John 3:16 Series

Which is why I find it so hard to get my head around why there are those who call themselves followers of Christ and children of God who don’t spend any time with God or his kids now.

A little aside here, it was J. Oswald Sanders who wrote “It is impossible for a believer, no matter what his experience, to keep right with God if he will not take the trouble to spend time with God. Spend plenty of time with him; let other things go, but don't neglect Him.”

So, to sum up Nicodemus comes to Jesus and Jesus tells him in John 3:3 that he must be born again, they get into a discussion about what that means and Jesus eventually tells Nick how much God loves him, and Nicodemus’ response? We don’t know. We have no clue how the conversation ended.

In John Chapter 4 we read the story of the Samaritan woman at the well and how she embraces the claims of Christ and goes back to her village to tell everyone she knows about him.

In Mark chapter 10 we read about the rich young ruler who came to Christ and left rejecting Christ’s claim on his life. But there is nothing in this account to indicate that Nicodemus either accepted or rejected the claim of Christ on his life.

Now we do hear from Nicodemus again before the story ends. When the religious leaders begin to plot against Jesus we read in John 7:50-51 Then Nicodemus, the leader who had met with Jesus earlier, spoke up. “Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?” he asked.

And then after Jesus has been crucified and Joseph of Arimathea asked permission to take down Jesus’ body we read this, John 19:39-40 With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth.

In his book “Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week” , Pope Benedict XVI comments "The quantity of the balm is extraordinary and exceeds all normal proportions. This is a royal burial."

And in both the Catholic church and the Eastern Orthodox Church Nicodemus is revered as a saint.

But we just don’t know. We see Nicodemus at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and again at the end of the story. But we don’t know if he actually embraced the grace that Jesus offers each one of us.

And the question really isn’t how did Nicodemus’ story end, the important question is “How will your story end?” and only you will be able to answer that. Let’s personalize John 3:16 and read it together, you ready? John 3:16 “For God loved me so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that when I believe in him I will not perish but I will have eternal life.”