Nicodemus (Part 2) – He Is Born Again At The Cross – Jesus Was Lifted Up Series

NICODEMUS – HE IS BORN AGAIN AT THE CROSS – JESUS WAS LIFTED UP

THE CHARACTERS OF JOHN’S GOSPEL - NICODEMUS PART 2

MESSAGE – NICODEMUS PART 2

Part 2 is the continuation of the Message in Part 1.

John 3 v 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going - so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” John 3:10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not understand these things? John 3:11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak that which we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, and you do not receive our witness. John 3:12 If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things? John 3:13 No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, even the Son of Man. John 3:14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, John 3:15 that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life, John 3:16 for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life, John 3:17 for God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.

5. Verses 7 and Verse 8. This word “marvel” used in some translations means to be “amazed, astonished, filled with wonder”. Nicodemus was at a loss. Nothing like this had ever passed by his ears, but here he spoke to a Man with authority and certainty. The message that Nicodemus had to get, was this - his need to be born again; in fact, it was absolutely necessary that he be born again. Too many churches have forgotten that there is an entry into God’s kingdom, the necessity for the new birth, in order to become children of the living God, and instead, they seem to be content that people just come to church. Why, one might be in a church all one’s life and not be a child of God because he or she has not been born again.

Verse 8 is the illustration Jesus gave from the natural world to help explain the working of the Holy Spirit in the spiritual world. The Spirit has His own will performing the desire of the Godhead, and you see Him working here and working there. As you can hear the sound of the wind in the physical world, so too, you can see the results of the Spirit in conversion in the spiritual world and work. The Holy Spirit is crucial in a person’s being born again as we covered earlier, because it is He who convicts the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgement.

6. Verses 9 and 10. Out of his confusion, Nicodemus asks the question. What he asks is how can these things be possible? All this was strange to him, all of it was new, yet, in verse 10, Jesus indicates he should have known all this, because he was the teacher in Israel. It is actually a reprimand for this scholarly man who knew the Torah, but not the spiritual realities of it. The translation of “the teacher” and not “a teacher” is the correct one. Here was a man in the highest plane of Jewish teaching, yet he was ignorant of the very core of scripture. It is like a modern man who is fully versed in theology and has PhDs to his name, but is not born again, and believe me, many of them exist. There are numerous references in the O.T that suggest the new birth, and the teacher would be expected to know them.

7. Verse 11 and Verse 12 and Verse 13. In verse 11, Jesus gives a personal witness to His ministry. The Lord spoke what He knew and saw, which all makes sense as He was the Creator of all things. He uses the plural “we” that means the Father and the Son. He preached and He taught, but in a personal note here to Nicodemus, Jesus added that “you do not receive our witness,” the “you”, being plural, referring to the truth-rejecting Pharisees. Jesus draws the line here with the witness of the Father and the Son on one side (which is why the plural “we” was used), and the witness of the Pharisees on the other side of the line. Verse 12 is a plain question of logic. The legalistic Pharisees rejected what Jesus said about the physical life, so how could they possibly believe what He said about the spiritual life? Verse 13 is a fact about heaven. No one had ascended into heaven before the cross (the Ascension actually), but the Lord has ascended and descended.