surgery today. Emergency surgery. I haven't heard anything from
it yet. A nurse who walks up to the hospital
named Missy is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Is that right?
I remember her. Rain Francis back in the hospital,
his cure was running 900. And also, Rudy Rodriguez, his
family came to Mountain, Texas last year. They've come the second
time they've come, and nice folks come visit us. He had surgery
today, so I remember him in prayer, but also other men I can't think
of anybody. We get our worship shirt from
him number 125. Jesus paid it all, all the debt
out of him. I hear the Savior say, I submit. Jesus. Jesus. All the day I look, spinning
in the crimson spray. For nothing good have I Whereby
thy grace to claim I'll wash my garments white In the blood
of Calvary's Lamb Jesus paid it all All the dead I owe, sin and enterprise
I slay. He washed it white as snow, and
wind before the throne, I stand in him complete. Jesus died, my soul to save. Number 227, Crimson Flames. Oh, now I see the cleansing flame
of that undivided bride. Jesus, my Lord, mighty to save,
lies to his wounded side. On the raging stream, I see,
I see, life undead, oh, it cleanseth me. Oh, praise the Lord, He cleanseth
me. He cleanseth me, yes, cleanseth
me. I rise to walk in Hims own light,
above the world and sin. With heart made pure and young
and strong, I rise to go with Him. I see. I see. Oh, praise the
lord. Oh, praise the lord If you have your Bibles, turn
with me to the third chapter of John, verses 14 through 17. I believe, in all probability,
I'll be spending about tonight and the next two weeks on these
three or four verses here. Verse 14 says, and as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God sent
not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the
world through him might be saved. Let us pray. Our Father, gracious,
merciful, Glorious Father, we come to you in the precious name
of your beloved Son, our substitute, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We pray for those who have been mentioned on the prayer list.
We ask, Lord, your help for them. We pray that you'd be merciful
and gracious to them and bring them back to a good measure of
health according to your will. We pray, Father, for us tonight
as we gather here that you might be pleased to give us grace to
worship you. We thank you for the new mercies
we have every day. We know what we are by nature,
and we are thankful that you have given us faith to believe
what we are by grace. Help us, Lord, to trust you.
to fall upon the Lord Jesus Christ for everything. But truly for
the believer, he is all and in all. Help us now, we pray, to
worship you in Christ's name. Amen. Now this is going to be an overview.
We're going to kind of have been here for a couple of weeks. We're
going to look back and look forward in this passage. is just about, and it's possibly
the most well-known passage in all of scripture. And it's most
commonly quoted as biblical proof that election and predestination,
as they relate to salvation, do not apply. That's how it's
often used wrongfully. It's been called the most important
verse in all of scripture, as it supposedly declares the universal
love of God, that God loves all men without exception. In the
New Testament, published by the Gideon Society, if you've got
one of those little New Testaments, I got one when I went into the
service. They put one in my pack and I
took it everywhere I went. In that little Testament, John
3, 16 is translated in 80 languages. In 80 languages. As well as this
verse is known, it just as well It is just as well misunderstood.
Very few people understand what John 3.16 means. Now, beginning
in chapter 2, certain things are repeated and they form the
theme for the words of our Lord here as He speaks again to Nicodemus. The major theme is belief. In chapter 2 and verse 23, it's
now when He was in Jerusalem to pass over the feast day, many
believed. in his name when they saw the
miracles that he did. In chapter 3 and verse 12 he
says, I told you earthly things to the Nicodemus and you believe
not, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things? And then in verse 16 it talks
about believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and not perishing and
have everlasting life. And also in verse 18 it says
he that believeth on him is not condemned He's not condemned,
but he that believeth not is condemned already because he
not believed in the name of the Son of God. This matter of belief
is what our Lord has been bringing Nicodemus to all along. Everything
he said thus far brings him to this point. It's important to
note that every reference to believe in Christ thus far, however,
every reference to believe in Christ at this point in Scripture
is spoken to a person who does not believe in Christ. This is
how it's approached. This is how our Lord approaches
him. Therefore, every reverence is an indictment against Nicodemus. An indictment. Remember, he said
to Nicodemus, except you be born again. You cannot see or understand
or grasp the kingdom of heaven. In verses 10 through 11, he accused
him of three things. He says, thou art a master and
ye know not. In verse 11, you receive not
our witness in verse 12 he says you believe not these things
are spoken to an unbeliever now this does not suggest that Nicodemus
would never ever believe but merely at this time when he had
asserted that he knew some things and believed some things that
he had neither understanding, knowledge, or belief he didn't
have faith but he thought he did Because he said, we know
the heart of man comes from God. But no man can do these miracles
except God sent him. So he believed that he believed. But our Lord says you don't believe.
And he spoke about belief to this man. Now, secondly, the
concept of spiritual understanding is addressed, as we saw when
he talked about being born again, being born of the Spirit, the
wind blowing towards Solithus and so forth in chapter 3. Spiritual
understanding is entirely dependent upon being born again. A person
does not understand anything spiritually unless he's regenerated
by the Spirit of God through the Word, being born from above,
a new and spiritual birth. Our Lord makes it a clear distinction
between the flesh and the spirit, but He's talking about it because
Nicodemus immediately goes back to the idea of the flesh. He
said, shall a woman go back into his mother's womb and be born
again? He's talking about flesh. He's
talking about physical, natural experience, what carnality can
understand and only understand. So our Lord makes a clear distinction
in the flesh, that is to say, as a person who's born in this
world, the life he has, the gifts he has, the traits and talents
he possesses, the intellect, The will and the conscience and
the mental acuity he's born with cannot in any way grasp or perceive
anything having to do with the spiritual realm. He's blind to
those things. He's dead to those things. They're
dead to him. It is a realm outside him. It's
like a fish understanding a bird. You just don't do it. A fish
understands the realm he's in. He's in water. He has gills that
can make oxygen out of the water. He can stay in that water and
go anywhere he wants to in that water. But he can't get out and
ride a bicycle. And he can't fly. He can't fly. Why? Because that's outside his
realm. And for a natural man, the spiritual
realm, this book, the understanding of this book, is outside his
realm of understanding. He can't get it. That's why Paul
said, we preach to dead men. We preach the dead man. As a
man is born in this world, he is simply incapable of any spiritual
understanding. Now, he may study and even memorize
the Bible. He may attend seminary and preach
the Bible. He may be like Nicodemus, a man
of the Sanhedrin who studied the Bible. He might even say
right things concerning Christ, but he is incapable of understanding
spiritual things. Scripture plainly declares, and
Paul told this to the great many churches, the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit. They are foolishness to it. Neither
can he know them nor discern them because they're spiritually
discerned. That's the only way they can
be discerned. Thirdly, it's clear that in the spiritual realm,
the Spirit is in control. The wind bloweth where it listeth.
The Spirit is the sovereign God from inception The new birth
to living and to consummation, the man who's been born from
above is moved and motivated by the Spirit of God. Even moved
when he don't know he's being moved. Man devises in his heart. The Lord directs his steps, saith
the Scripture. We know that the Spirit takes
the things of Christ and reveals to them who are generated. That's
what our Lord said he came for in John 16. We'll see that in
our later studies. And he says of the Spirit, I'll
send another spirit to you, my spirit will come to you and he'll
take the things of Christ. He'll not glorify himself, he'll
not bring recognition to himself. He'll glorify me, he'll take
the things of Christ and reveal them unto you. The spirit is
given so that the elect will believe on Christ. And when I
speak of belief, I do not speak of a one-time act. but rather
a frame of mind, a way of thinking, a matter of the heart and the
soul that only those who are born from above by the Spirit
through the Word possess. Only those possess that. That which is born of the Spirit
is spirit. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. But ye are born in the Spirit,
Paul says in Romans chapter 8. But ye are born of the Spirit.
To believe, to think spiritually, to see spiritually, is the result
of a solemn act of the Holy Spirit, and in no case the result of
the flesh. In no way is it the result of
the flesh. Just as man had nothing to do
with his natural birth, man has nothing to do with his spiritual
birth. He's passive in both situations. Fourthly, these words of our
Lord are about salvation, about salvation, about eternal life. We just read, he that believeth
in him shall have everlasting life. He that believeth not shall
perish, shall perish. So we're talking about salvation.
The Spirit, the new birth, and belief are an indication of salvation.
and eternal life. Unbelief, natural birth, and
the flesh end up in condemnation and end up perishing. This is
the condemnation. What do men think? Well, it's
because I went to the bar. Because I've been out running around
with women. Because I've been taking dope. I've been with all
kinds of devil men. A friend of mine used to say,
full of all kinds of devil men. That's why I'm convinced. This is the condemnation. That
light has come into this world. And men love darkness rather
than light. This is the condemnation, not
something else. This is the condemnation. Our
Lord in verse 13 seems to prove His point to Nicodemus by declaring
that that which can only be understood spiritually. The Lord is referring
to Himself. In 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. He is declaring who He is and
that it is He who is who the word declares must be believed.
He said, you must believe on me. This is what he's saying. He declares that he is the only
one who has ascended to heaven. Ascended to heaven suggests to
Nicodemus that the required new birth is impossible for him.
You can't ascend to heaven, but I can ascend to heaven. He also
declares that he came down from heaven and is the only one who
has the rights to ascend back to heaven, which he will do some
33 and a half years later. When our Lord declares that while
he sits face to face with Nicodemus, that he is at the same time,
he's in heaven. He must be God. He declares that
the one who is to be believed for salvation is both God and
man. The one sitting before him, and
the one who's in heaven. Right now, this is who must believe.
The God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Natural understanding. Cannot
grasp the meaning of this even though he may embrace the fact
of it. He cannot understand it. To Nicodemus,
the concept of the spiritual, spiritual was foreign and he
was a very, very religious man. He was a man who looked at and
studied the Bible, which was Genesis through Malachi at the
time. Our Lord was speaking to him.
He read that. He knew the law. He knew the
ceremonies. He was a Sanhedrin. He was a
learned man. He was a learned man, and he
couldn't get at all what the Lord was saying. Now, you look
at the words of our Lord and say, I understand that. I understand that. That the flesh
and the spirit are different. I understand that a man must
be born. How come you understand it? The spirit of God must have
taught you. The Holy Spirit must have made
you alive to these things. Because there was a time in your
life when you didn't understand that. When you didn't understand
that. To Nicodemus salvation was foreign.
Foreign. How this one who spoke to him
of such fantastical things was God and man. On earth and in
heaven at the same time. And only faith can believe something
like that. Barney used to say, only a fool
or a Christian will believe the Bible. Because it's fantastical. It's amazing. It's wondrous.
It says things that are too hard to believe. How can I rest so
quietly and peacefully in the fact that 2,000 years ago a man
died on Calvary and pay my sin debt, and I stand before God
righteous, knowing what I am inside. How could I even think
that way? Because that's what the Word
says. And God has given me faith to believe. That's a wonder of
it, isn't it? It's also no wonder that men
think it's crazy, thinks it's foolishness. What is it then
the Spirit teaches, that the Spirit teaches a person when
he's born of the Spirit? Here's what he said. Even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but
have eternal life. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him
should not perish, but have eternal life. For God sent not His Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
Him might be saved. And this is astounding language to the
man he's speaking to. We'll see that in weeks to come.
This is astounding language. Astounding. Now we see that John 3.16 does
not take a primary role in what is being taught. John 3.16 begins
with the conjunction for. That means something is said
before and our Lord says because. That's what the word for means.
Now if there is a because, there must be a cause. John 14 and
15 give us that cause. As Moses lifted up the serpent
of the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal
life, because God so loved the Word that He gave His only begotten
Son. Now here in these two verses,
you see a teaching principle that our Lord often uses in Scripture.
It's an as and an even so. As this is, even so this must
be. So he says, as Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. As one incident took place and
brought about certain results, even so the and brought about likewise certain
results. He said these two have a comparative
nature. One thing happened when that
merc serpent was raised up. Things that happened that caused
him to be raised up, he was raised up, and then something happened
when people looked on that serpent. And he said, so, when Jesus Christ,
and this is the first mention of the cross, when Jesus Christ
is lifted up, Certain things cause that to be. Certain things
happen and when they look at Him, certain things will take
place. The same kind of things that
took place when Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. And apparently it's Moses lifting
up the serpent in the wilderness to Christ being lifted up on
the cross. Two other times in John, our Lord says, if I be
lifted up. He says that in John chapter
8 verse 28, John chapter 12 verse 32. It's significant that our
Lord draws this comparison from the Old Testament. Though that
was the only Bible they had at the time. He tells Necodemus
that the Old Testament is actually about him. He said, you remember
that story about the serpent in Numbers, the book of Numbers? Even as Moses lifted him up from
the serpent, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. This
declares Christ to be Emmanuel, God with us, the promised Messiah. And since this comparison, those
referred to in the incident in verse 14 find their likeness
in verses 15 through 17. Look back at Numbers chapter
21, we'll see what he's talking about. As Moses, and I'll be
long here, just for a few minutes. We'll spend a little more time
on it next week. In this passage, we see several
things. Look at verses 5 through 9 of
Numbers 21. And the people spake against
God. Wherefore, they said, have ye
brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there
is no bread, neither is there any water. Two lies right there.
And our soul loatheth, hates this light bread. And the Lord
sent fiery serpents they bit the people, and much people of
Israel died. Therefore the people came to
Moses and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the
Lord, and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he take
away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
And the Lord said, Moses, make thee a fiery serpent, and set
it upon a pole, and it shall come to pass that everyone that
is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. That's what the
as is. Even so must the Lord be lived
in us. So here we see some things. We
see the sin. The sin is that they lied about
what God had done for them. He's taken care of them all the
way through this wilderness, every day for 40 years, except
for the Sabbath day. God has put this little white
morsel on the ground called manna. Deuteronomy 8 said he sent manna
to prove his people, to see if they would be satisfied with
what he gave them. Who is our Lord Jesus Christ?
He is the manna from heaven. He is the bread of life. They
said we have no water. Yet there was a rock, according
to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, that followed them in the wilderness.
Another fantastic and wondrous thing, wherever they went, there
was that rock. And water gushed forth from that rock. They were
never thirsty. They were never hungry. And they
sold, I said, they don't have any bread. They don't have real
bread that makes, you know, with yeast and, you know, rye bread, And that likely is Jesus Christ.
Our soul hates that bread. Our soul hates that bread. That's
the sin. What's the punishment? Fiery
serpents came and bit them. Poisoned them. Poisoned them. They were dying. Many, it says,
died. And men aware of their condemnation
and their sure death, dying men begging for mercy. That's there.
Moses raised up a brazen serpent on a pole, and dying men were
told to look to that serpent, and they would leave. That's
what happened. That's the answer. And even so,
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the man from heaven. The
sin is, men hated Jesus Christ. They hated me without a cause.
They hated me without a cause. God said the soul that sinneth
shall not die. They were under the condemnation
of death. They were dying. They were dying. And when they
realized they were dying, then they called out for mercy. And
what was the message? Look unto me, all ye ends of
the earth, and be ye saved. For I am a just God and a Savior,
and there is none else. The sin of the people is unbelief.
Unbelief. that is manifested in despising
the manna. The manna was God's provision,
and it pictured Christ as the bread of life. The unbelief manifested
in John 3 is the unbelief of Nicodemus, and though it may
not seem that he despises Christ, all unbelief is hatred for the
singular provision that God has made. This is what you have if
you're a child of God. You have Jesus Christ and nothing
else. You see? Satisfactory for you? Do you love this library? Every child of God is satisfied
and thankful for that manna that's there every morning for us. All
unbelief is hatred for the singular provision, which is Jesus Christ,
for life that God has made. Light has come into this world,
and men love darkness rather than light. It is the sin that
the Holy Spirit convinces men of, that first thing, unbelief. Unbelief. This is what this passage
is teaching. We're going to get into it a
little deeper in the next couple of weeks. Father, bless us to
understand and pray in Christ's name. Amen.