Yet in all his days of study,
he was unable to see anything beyond the natural and the physical. He studied the Bible, spent his
days in the Bible, but all he could ever see was the natural
and the physical. In this context, our Lord, as
it were, drives another nail in Nicodemus' coffin of understanding
and shows him that the scriptures are about himself, they're about
the Lord Jesus Christ. and the necessity of belief in
Him is the primary indication of this thing called spiritual
life, or the new birth. And after declaring the action
of the Spirit, the new birth is an absolute necessity. The Lord compares the movement
of the Spirit to the wind. The work of the Spirit is compared
to the wind, our Lord says. In verse 8, the wind bloweth
where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst
not tell when it cometh and whither it goeth. So is every one that
is born of the Spirit. The presence of the wind can
be discerned. It can be heard. It can be felt. But its origin, its storehouse,
cannot be discerned. We don't know where the wind
come from. It just shows up. It just shows up. The wind goes
where it pleases and cannot be controlled or truly known. This
refers first to God's sovereignty and then also to those who are
born of the Spirit. The sovereignty of God is like
the wind. It goes where it pleases and
does what He intends. The world, the natural man, cannot
discern the spiritual man. He cannot know it. That's what
the scriptures say. A spiritual man is not discerned
by any man, yet he discerneth all things. In John chapter 3
and verse 1, I believe that's first John chapter 3 and verse
1, says something about the children
of God. He says, behold, what manner of
love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God. Therefore, because we're sons
of God, by the love of God and by His mercy, therefore the world
knoweth us not, because it knew him not. So those who are spiritual
people are not discerned and are not discernible by the flesh. And this is proven in Nicodemus'
response in verse 9 when he says this, he says, how can these
things be? Our Lord was talking in terms
that he could not begin to understand. He is utterly dismayed at what
he has heard because he cannot understand, he cannot grasp it.
Clearly, he had an interest in Jesus Christ. He came to Jesus
Christ by night because of the miracles that he did. He knew
something was different about Jesus Christ. He said, you must
be a man from God, because no man could do these kind of things.
He knew and understood that, but he could never get past the
physical. The words of our Lord Jesus'
mouth were a foreign language to him. Now, he could see what
Jesus did and see that there was something special about this
character. But when he opened his mouth,
it proved that he could not understand it. This was the case always
as the Lord Jesus Christ. Men followed him, grouped to
him. Hordes of people followed him and watched him as he performed
miracles. They were utterly amazed by that.
But when he opened his mouth, most of them picked up rocks,
a stone, kill him or throw him off of some cliff when he opened
up his mouth. Now here this is a learning man who knows there's
something special about this man, Jesus Christ, but he's unable
to understand anything that he's talking about. These words are
foreign language to the natural man regardless of how much he
may be steeped in Bible study. I know men who've studied Bibles
all their life and have no interest in the Lord Jesus Christ. They
have interest in theology, They can talk to you about the doctrines
of scripture. They can rehearse them with you,
but they have no interest in Christ. Those people still don't
understand what this book is about. This is the reason why
our Lord said what he said to him in verse 10. Our Lord said,
aren't thou a master in Israel? And knowest not these things?
The employment of employment, as I said before, the title of
master did not only refer to his position of authority, which
he had, but to the fact that he was a student of scripture
and spent much of his time in study. The Sanhedrin spent a
lot of time in the Bible. A lot of time. The Bible, the
Old Testament, had many references to the spirit and to the concept
of something beyond the natural. And such references were not
understood and could not be explained in the natural realm. Deuteronomy
10, verse 16, our Lord said, circumcise, therefore, the foreskin
of your heart. And B, you're not stiff in that. To the natural man, that's an
impossibility. You go in there, you're going
to kill. So man doesn't understand that the Lord was talking about
something else. Let's look at a few verses of Scripture. In
Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 6. It says, the Lord thy God will
circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed to love the
Lord. So the circumcision of the heart
will cause someone to love God. With all thy heart, with all
thy soul, thou mayest live. So the Lord talked about something
that to the natural flesh is impossible. And we can understand
why Nicodemus and others who studied scripture who didn't
have the spirit would look at these things and say, how can
these things be? How can these things be? Look at Isaiah chapter
66. In Isaiah chapter 66 in verse 8, it says this. Who hath heard such a thing?
Who has seen such a thing? Shall the earth be made to bring
forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at
once? How's that happen? A nation be
born at once. For as soon as Zion travailed
to give birth, she brought forth her children. As soon as the
church travailed, she brought forth her children. As soon as
the body of Christ, Christ himself, travailed, he brought forth children. In Isaiah chapter 36, how is
it that the Spirit described over those dragons? He said,
preach to those by the prophesied of those bones, say unto the
wind, breathe upon these bones, the wind is the spirit of God.
So this kind of language was in the Old Testament. It was
in the Old Testament, and yet men didn't understand fully what
it meant. They're not spiritual men. So in verse 11, our Lord
speaks in the first person and saying, they're insuring that
he speaks the truth back in our text. He says, verily, verily,
I say unto thee, We speak what we do know. That's the second
part of that sentence. He speaks in the plural. He says
we. And I believe he's probably referring
to, or could be referring to, the triune Godhead as we, the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. More than likely, he's
speaking of him and John the Baptist. You'll look over in
verse 32 of the same chapter. He speaks of John the Baptist
in the same kind of language. He says, and what he has seen
and heard, that he testifieth, that no man receiveth his testimony.
So the same thing is said of John that was said of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And maybe that's what he's talking
about when he says, we. He declares that they speak from
knowing. He said, we speak what we know.
We know something. Now remember what Nicodemus said
when he came to Christ. He said, we know. We know that
thou art a man come from God and the Lord said you can't know
that you can't see the kingdom of God unless you're born from
above He's saying that we know that means there's intrinsic
knowledge with the Spirit when the Spirit comes He writes the
Word of God upon your heart, and you know things and you understand
things Look over first second first Corinthians chapter 2 Now this is said of the children
of God. In verse 7 it says, We speak the wisdom of God in a
mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the
world before our glory. Now he's talking to the children
of God. He said, We speak this thing called the gospel, and
it's a mystery. Is Christ crucified? They don't
get that. And remember, this is where This
is where the Lord is leading Nicodemus. He's going to end
up with Christ on the cross down here. When he talks about the
serpent being raised up, even so shall Christ be raised up.
He's going to talk about Christ on the cross. That's the ultimate
in spiritual understanding. So when he talks about being
born again and having the knowledge of the Spirit, he's talking about
the one thing that no man will ever understand or grasp unless
he has spirit of God. We speak the spirit of God in
a mystery, even the wisdom of God, which God ordained before
the world, which none of the princes, that is, who is Nicodemus,
he's a prince. He's a ruler of the Jews. None
of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it,
they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. That's always
the strangest verse to me. That's a strange verse. If they
had known who Christ was, Why wouldn't they have crucified
him? Well, they would have thought he was the king and they would
have crucified him. But if they had spiritual understanding,
they would know unless he is crucified, they're going to perish.
So that's a strange verse of scripture to me. Strange verse
of scripture. But as it is written, I have not seen nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man the thing which
God has prepared for them that love him. There's that mystery,
that wonder. You say, man, wow. Most people,
when they preach this or preach from this, most preachers talk
about heaven. They talk about the wonders of heaven and what
it's going to be like when the Bible doesn't tell us what heaven's
going to be like, except for that Christ is there. Christ
is there and the saints are there. We know that. But we don't know
much about the landscape or anything else. In fact, whatever heaven
is now, it's not going to be in the future, for God's going
to create new heavens and new earth. The man talked about all
the wonders of heaven. He's talking about this mystery,
this gospel, this strange language that our Lord is speaking about
being born again and the spirit moving like the wind. This strange
language that cannot be understood naturally. He said the next word
after verse 9, verse 10 is good. No man knows, he said. Eyes have
not seen it, ears have not heard it, neither has the heart of
the man of things God have prepared for them that love him. But,
wait a minute, we have an opposition here. But God has revealed them
unto us. How? By His Spirit. By His Spirit. For the Spirit
searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what
man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man that is
in it? Even so, the things of God knoweth
no man but the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the
Spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is of God. Why? That we might know the things
that are freely given to us of God. It's really good. Secondly,
he said, we know. We know. The child of God knows
this. He has an unction from on high. He understands all spiritual
things. He knows these things. God has
revealed them to his people. And what has he revealed? This
wondrous thing that the eye has not seen, and the ear has not
heard, and the heart of man has not received. What has he revealed?
He's revealed the gospel to them. He's revealed the good news of
Jesus Christ. Now, we preach the gospel. Not
everybody responds to it. Not everybody cares for it. hear the voice of Christ. Secondly,
he says there are testimonies about what they personally observed.
He says in verse 11, verse 11, we speak that we do
know and we testify what we have seen and you receive not our
witness. He testifies, see that's what
a testimony is. People talk about the testimony
and I was raised in a and a church which talked about testimonies
all the time, and they'd have testimony meetings, and people
would get up and testify of what riches there were, how vile they
were, and there seemed to be a contest on who was the worst
sinner, you know, and things like that. People would try to
outdo each other. What is a testimony? A testimony
is something you sing. You testify to what you've seen. Even in courts, hearsay is not
accepted. If you're a witness, you have
to be an eyewitness. So the Lord said, We've seen
some things, me and John have seen some things, and he also
would include all these people, they've seen some things also.
It's a testimony they've personally observed. John chapter 1 and
verses 12 through 14, they've personally observed the glory
of Jesus Christ and the new birth. Though our Lord introduces the
concept of the actual teaching in the New Birth Year in verse
3, He covers it pretty well in chapter 1 in verses 12 through
14. He says, But as many as received Him, that is, received Jesus
Christ, to Him gave He power or authority or right or privilege
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name,
which were born, not of blood, that is, of ancestry, Not of
the will of the flesh, not by free will, nor by the will of
man. Some other person giving you
absolution. Born of God. Born of God. So that's the first mention of
the new birth right there in the New Testament. Born of God. Nicodemus did not receive it. He did not receive it. Our Lord
said he didn't. He did not receive what they
knew. He did not receive the witness
that they gave. But this was true throughout
the Old Testament. You remember our studies in Jeremiah.
Over and over again, the Lord said, I did this, I did this,
and you did not hear me. You would not receive me. Look
over at Isaiah 28. Here's a clearer picture of it
as you'll see in all the scriptures. And I think the Lord might have
had in mind what he said in Matthew 23, but we'll look at that in
a second. Isaiah chapter 18, or chapter 28, verse 9, it says, Whom shall
you teach knowledge? And whom shall you make to understand
doctrine? Them that are weaned from the
breast, or weaned from the milk, or drawn from the breast. For
precept must be upon precept. precept upon precept, line upon
line. He's talking about preaching
the word of God. Here a little and there a little, always stammering
lips and another tongue while I speak to this people, to whom
he said, this is the rest, wherein ye may cross and weary to rest,
and this is the refreshing. Yet they would not hear. They
would not hear. This is made true by Nicodemus
as he set forth by Jesus Christ himself, telling the truth about
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they don't, and he
don't get it. In Matthew, our Lord looked at
Jerusalem. In Matthew chapter 23, verse
37. He said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that were gathered,
that were sent to thee. How often would I have gathered
thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under
her wings? But ye would not. He came unto
his own, and his own received him not. And this is repeated
and seen clearly in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in the
New Testament. He says to other Pharisees about the Scriptures,
he says, you do study the Scriptures, for in them you think you find
eternal life, but they are they which testify of me, and you
will not come to me. Scriptures testify of me, but
you won't come to me. You'll come to the Scriptures.
You'll study the Scriptures. You'll spend your time in this
book, but you won't come to me that you might have life. Why?
Because you think you already got it. That's why people will
say that they have life. Now say, won't you let Jesus
into your life? What life? He is life. We are dead in trespasses and
sins. Then back in our text in verse
12, the issue is finally stated in a manner that will refine
the flesh throughout the word of God. If I told you earthly
things and you believe not, How shall
you believe if I tell you heavenly things? The issue that the Spirit
reveals to man as he's born of a woman is an unbeliever. In John chapter 16 it says, when
the Spirit comes, the Lord says to his disciples, I'm leaving.
And when the Spirit comes, he's going to rebuke or reprove men
of sin and righteousness and judgment. And he says, of sin,
because they believe not on thee. There's where all sin comes from. Unbelief. It's the mother of
it all. And the earthly things that our
Lord refers to are the illustrations He employed to teach the work
of the Spirit. The new birth. Why did He speak
language like that? Because we understand something
physically about the birth. And when He talks about a new
birth, the same things apply that happen in your birth. You
didn't conceive yourself. You didn't birth yourself. You
were birthed. You are totally passive in the
operation. And if the Spirit works on you
and you have the new birth, you're totally passive in that operation.
The Lord Jesus Christ gives you ears to hear, sends somebody
to preach the gospel to you. The Spirit gives you life. You
didn't know it was going to happen. You had no idea that it was going
to happen. But it happened. He calls it a birth. Then he
says the Spirit's like the wind. The same thing goes. We don't
understand. We can feel the wind. We can know it's here. We can
hear it. We don't know where it comes from or where it's going.
We can't stop it. And you can't do that to the
Spirit. You don't know where the Spirit's going or where it's coming from,
and you can't stop Him. He's the sovereign God. He's
the sovereign God. The earthly things that our Lord
referred to are these illustrations that He gave. And if the Lord
speaks of spiritual things, which He is about to do in certain
and specific terms in the remainder of this chapter, He's going to
speak of His substitutional work on Calvary. He's going to use
the illustration there. He's going to say, even as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, and all the things
that happened that caused Him to lift up that serpent, He compares
to Jesus Christ being lifted up on Calvary. In comparison,
we'll look at that in the weeks to come. These earthly things are preparation
for Nicodemus learning about Christ. Learning about Christ. How can Nicodemus believe these
heavenly things? And in verse 10 through 12, our
Lord gives three things about Nicodemus, which is the resume
of every natural man. In verse 10, he says, you don't
know. No, you know not these things.
You don't know. In verse 11, he says, you don't
receive. And in verse 12, he says, you
don't believe. You don't know, you don't receive,
and you don't believe. That's natural man. He will never
receive, know, or believe the gospel of Jesus Christ until
or unless he is born from above. This is the resume. And then
in verse 13, he solidifies this truth by asserting that which
only can be understood by faith. A wondrous and strange phrase.
No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven. Even the Son of Man, which is
in heaven. What a strange thing. What a
strange thing. One who speaks to Nicodemus is
God. God incarnate. The one who alone has rights
to ascend. Now Enoch and Elias, Enoch was
translated, Elias was carried into heaven on a chariot of fire.
They were carried. They were translated. He alone
has the rights of ascendancy. He said, if you must eat my flesh
and drink my blood, what and if the Son of Man is not with
you, he ascends up. He ascends up. You see, ascendancy
has to do with rights and with power. It means that Christ,
by his own power and right, ascended to heaven And that because he
has descended from heaven. He came from heaven and he goes
back to heaven. In the truest sense, he's telling
Nicodemus that the new birth that is required, that spiritual
understanding can only be his if he's able to ascend to heaven. And he's not. He said, well,
I'm not either way, man. Our Lord states that he stands
before Nicodemus, he is also in heaven. He says, Son of man,
I'm standing here with you, and I'm also in heaven. At the very
same time. He alone is that glorious connection,
the conduit between heaven. He declares himself to be the
way, the truth, and the life, and no man can come to the Father
but by him. The beauty of this is that all
those who have been born again, born from above, have ascended That's not what he says to Nicodemus. It's true of every child of God.
Look over at Ephesians chapter 2. In Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
4 it says, But God, who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith
He loved us even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us, resurrected us together with Jesus Christ, by grace ye are
saved, and hath raised us up together. and made us to sit
in heavenly places in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, Sylvester,
you're here in Cherokee sitting on a pew, and you're in heaven
right now. People talk about, I can't wait
to get to heaven and be with my people. Listen, you're already
with your people if you're a child of God. You just don't know it.
You haven't realized it yet. They know it. They know it. You're there with them. Every
child of God has his feet in this world, but he's not of this
world. He's of that world. And he's ascended to heaven.
And this can only be understood one way. And this is what the
Lord is bringing Nicodemus to. He that believeth on me shall
never perish. That's where it all comes to.
This can only be understood by faith. In fact, a natural man
can understand that. It's a mystery to me. I don't
know how it works. But I believe it. Because God has given me
faith to know that this word is true. I understand it because I know
God has said this word is true and has given me faith to believe
it. Only under the faith can I understand it. This can only
be grasped by one who is spiritually alive. Thank God. If you've been
born anew by His Word, for we are born, not of corruptible
seed, but incorruptible, even the Word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. As I said, I just read in John
chapter 1 and verse 12, we're not born of blood or the will
of flesh, the will of man. We're born of God. And right
now, here in these snowy banks along the Ravenclaw River in
Cherokee, North Carolina sits a group of people who are right
now seated in every place in Jesus Christ. What a wonder. How can you understand
that? You must be born again. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen. All right.