“Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. 12 “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 “No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. 14 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
These verses which are the primary focus of today’s study comprise the completion of the discourse of Jesus with the leading Pharisee, Nicodemus, who has come to Him in the quiet of night to gather information about who Jesus claims to be in light of the miracles He has done and His purging of the merchandizers from the Temple earlier in the day or in that week.
SOME NOTES FROM VSS 1-10
Before we dive into verses 11 through 21 let’s make a mental note of a couple of things that stood out to me as I meditated on this third chapter of John’s Gospel.
First, I want you to notice that Jesus is patient and attentive to this man and gives him the words he needs to hear in order to come to belief. Now by that I mean a certain kind of belief and we will talk much about that later.
My point is, as we read through the Gospel narratives it is apparent in the various confrontations that are recorded for us between Jesus and the Jewish rulers; the religious leaders referred to as the Pharisees and Scribes and in some cases the Sanhedrin – which was sort of the Supreme Court of the Jews although they also were Pharisees – it is apparent, or perhaps I should say when it is apparent that they are challenging Him out of hardened unbelief and only want to find an excuse to destroy Jesus, He doesn’t really give them much time. He answers their questions according to truth rather than according to what they want to hear and He chastises their hypocrisy, but He moves on and doesn’t waste time debating issues with them.
But we’re told that Jesus sits and eats and drinks with the tax gatherers and irreligious people. That means He spent time with them. He told them about the Kingdom of God. They hung on His every word and when Jesus stood and walked they walked behind Him.
So I think it is an important thing to note that at a time Jesus could very legitimately have said, ‘You know, Nicodemus, it’s been a long and trying day and tomorrow is going to be another one and I really need some rest; why don’t you and your friends just follow Me around over the next few days as I teach in Jerusalem during the Passover celebration, and you’ll find out everything you need to know if you just listen’… instead, Jesus enters into the most rich and meaningful conversation that Nicodemus has undoubtedly ever found himself a part of in all his years as a student of Moses and a teacher of Israel.
Another thing I want you to notice – and it is really tied to the first – is that Nicodemus makes his opening statements as the one who has come to visit [That makes sense, doesn’t it? I mean, if you showed up at the home of some famous modern day theologian and sat down in his living room and just stared at him he’d probably get a little creeped out, wouldn’t he? So when you go to visit someone unannounced it’s considered polite to state the nature of your business without being asked.] then as Jesus begins to make these astounding statements that I am very certain Nicodemus did not expect, the Pharisee interjects a couple of questions that only serve to express his continued confusion, but after verse 9 we don’t hear from Nicodemus any more until late in chapter 7.
For all we know he might have gotten up at some point while Jesus was talking and just walked away. I do not seriously think so. I think we don’t hear from Nicodemus any more because when Jesus asked, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?” Nicodemus might have thought to himself, “Well, no, I don’t…” and at that moment he became the student and not the teacher at all, and I think he was doing his best from that point to absorb every word Jesus said.
Now as I said in the sermon previous to this one, there is no indication given here whatsoever that Nicodemus left as a believer that night. In the latter portion of chapter 7, which I mentioned a moment ago, there is indication that by then he was at least thinking about it, as he attempts to give Jesus some defense before his own peers – not as the Messiah but simply as a man who is innocent until proven guilty – and for his efforts he is insulted and treated dismissively by men who otherwise and in other cases probably esteemed him as honored among their number.
Then in chapter 19 verse 39 we find a believing Nicodemus, committed to Christ to the degree that he publically and openly assists in Jesus’ burial thus identifying himself with Jesus and His family and disciples.
So the process was apparently slow. The Words of God, which are what we’re studying in chapter 3 verses 3 through 21, since they came from the mouth of God in the flesh, slowly took root and did their heart-changing work and Nicodemus was proven to be one of those of whom Jesus spoke when He said, “…he who practices the truth comes to the Light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
As I said, that comes later; not on this night. But at least he listens and apparently, listens well.
Ok, there is just one more thing I want you to notice from the earlier portion of this chapter because we won’t be going back there but it has great bearing on what we’ll be considering today. From Nicodemus’ opening statement and even implied in the set of questions he asks, we discern that he is there to get understanding. He truly wants to understand. Unlike those Pharisees who will make it their life’s work over the coming three years to set traps for Jesus, Nicodemus really wants to know who this Man is who is performing miracles and from whence His authority comes to do what He did in the court of the Gentiles.
And I would submit to you that there are many in this world who want to have understanding and want to have answers to their questions. They want to know things.
That is why people ask questions even though they show no interest in committing themselves to whatever truth is revealed in the answers. I know of folks who have actually said that they have no interest in going to church or in calling themself a Christian, but they want to know what Jesus meant when He said such and such; or what was going on in that story about the guy who got swallowed by a whale, or some other curiosity question.
Enquiring minds want to know. Remember when that scandal rag used to advertise with that line? People want information and they want understanding but they don’t want commitment and they don’t want to believe in God. The way Jesus puts it in verse 20 is that they hate the Light and refuse to come to it because they don’t want their evil openly exposed.
They want to continue in it, but they don’t want to account for it.
(Wait. Did I say ‘scandal rag’? I meant tabloid newspaper.)
Ok, I have to get back on track.
JESUS ANSWERS THE FIRST QUESTION
Well, although it seems that early in this exchange Jesus ignores the Pharisee’s comments and goes into telling him what he really needs to know, hopefully we’re all in agreement by this point that He didn’t really ignore Nicodemus at all. Jesus simply knew, and He always knows, what the rest of us don’t know. He knew that Nicodemus didn’t really understand anything and would never understand anything apart from spiritual rebirth.
That is why His initial response was that unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Let me paraphrase that for you. He was saying, “God and the things pertaining to God are spirit and spiritually discerned, and since you are only flesh and not of the Spirit you cannot begin to understand or comprehend them. You have to have spiritual birth which comes, not from the Law of Moses or from your Rabbinical teachings or the philosphies and traditions of men, but from above; from God.”
I know; long paraphrase, huh?
So in reality Jesus didn’t ignore Nicodemus, nor did He go off on some tangent that was unrelated to what Nicodemus wanted to understand. But when we come to verse 11 and following, I submit to you that Jesus now begins to answer very clearly the questions Nicodemus had on his mind when he came. Let me repeat here that His statements have Nicodemus confused about his very status in life and the status of all the things he has always clung to for life and righteousness. He has become the student. He has no more words and no more questions. Now he is just listening and absorbing.
So Jesus begins by saying “Truly, truly, I say to you” Now before we go on let’s pause here for a moment. The word that is translated ‘Truly’ in my Bible and ‘Verily’ in the older translations, is a very interesting word. It is almost exactly the same in both Hebrew and Greek – ‘amam’ in Hebrew and ‘amen’ (or amane) in Greek, and it is an expression of absolute trust and confidence.
It was commonly used by teachers and by the use of it they were saying just as emphatically as they possibly could, “What I am about to say is absolute and unchanging truth and you must put your absolute confidence in it” It was a way of saying ‘Listen very closely, this is important’.
In this particular discourse Jesus used it three times; in verse 3, in verse 5 and in verse 11.
Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak that which we know and bear witness of that which we have seen; and you do not receive our witness.
My friends, that is a very powerful indictment against Nicodemus and his peers. “What I am saying to you is worthy of absolute confidence and acceptance, we are bearing witness to what we have seen and know to be true, and you won’t believe it!’
Now you know what is really important about that and why especially Nicodemus at this point would have realized how serious the charge was against him?
Because Nicodemus, as a teacher of the Law, knew well that Deuteronomy 17:6 and 19:15 provide that a man cannot be convicted of a crime on the testimony of only one witness but that there must be multiple witnesses; and other passages such as Matthew 18:16 confirm to us that to the Jews that also meant that multiple witnesses were to be believed.
So who is Jesus talking about when He says ‘we’? It can only be Himself and His disciples, who although they have not been with Him long, have seen His miracles and listened to His teaching and they were able to testify to what they had seen and knew to be true.
So how is this answering Nicodemus’ question, you might be asking? Here is how.
He said “Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him” Was he saying that out of belief? NO! It was a challenge. It was a polite way of saying “Show me your credentials; prove to me that you aren’t some cheap magician or something” and here in verse 11 Jesus answers that challenge with the very Law that Nicodemus puts his trust in for righteousness.
“We” – multiple witnesses – ‘We testify of what we know to be true and have seen and in violation of your own precious Law you reject us in unbelief!’
You want my credentials? Here they are. I come and go from Heaven. I descended here as the prophesied Son of Man. Who can know and teach and testify about heaven but someone who has been there? I have.
Hey. When the earliest adventurers travelled around this globe and found previously unknown and undiscovered lands, when they came back and reported on what they had seen people believed them. Y’know why? Because they had never been there, but the travelers had, so they were the ones to listen to and believe. Doesn’t that just make sense?
Jesus says “I speak of earthly things to illustrate spiritual truth and you won’t accept it; wouldn’t I be wasting my breath then, to illustrate what I’m telling you with spiritual truth which you cannot see and have not experienced? Well, I’ve been there. That’s my credentials”.
JESUS ANSWERS THE SECOND QUESTION
In saying that Jesus is answering the second question. I am talking about verse 9. So I want to qualify something at this point. I’m saying that Jesus goes on to answer the second question and if you are sharp you may be looking at verse 4 and at verse 9 and saying, ‘well, there’s really question 2 and question 3 and you seem to be kind of skipping question 2’
But I’m not really, because in both of these verses that is really what Nicodemus is asking. He’s saying, ‘Jesus, you’re talking about some kind of spiritual transition that takes place on the inside of a man, but I’ve always been taught and myself taught that righteousness with God is by the works of the Law. But you seem to be excluding the Law entirely and telling me that in order to understand the kingdom of God I have to have this inside thing done to me. How can this be true? How can it be that you teach something so contrary to the teachings of all the Rabbis of Judaism and all the traditions of the Jewish system? How can these things be?’
It’s the same question, so it is really the second question and Jesus will answer it for Nicodemus in verses 14 through 17.
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up” Now did Nicodemus catch any of that? Yes; probably better than any of us has caught it until we’ve had some very clear teaching on the subject. Until the first time I studied it through it made no sense to me at all.
In fact, I seem to remember reading that Old Testament account before I ever read any New Testament reference to it, and thinking, what in the world is all this? God is angry with the people so He sends poisonous snakes to bite them, then as they are dying in large numbers He tells Moses to make a fake snake and mount it to a pole and if they look at it they’ll be healed and not die? In what universe does that make any sense at all? It was very confusing to me.
You know what finally made me understand that story? It was New Testament doctrine of sin and atonement and faith apart from works that made me understand that story.
In the early verses of Numbers 21 the people grumble against Moses and against God and in their faithlessness they basically accuse God of bringing them out of Egypt to the wilderness to murder them. But do you know what the worst thing is that they do? Well, unless you have your Bible open to Numbers 21 you probably don’t unless you have Numbers 21 memorized, so I’ll tell you. They loathed the food that God had provided.
Why is that so bad? Because what they were loathing was the manna. Manna was the bread-like substance God sent down like dew every morning for them to gather and eat.
There is a whole teaching that can be done about the manna, but this is what you must get for now; the manna was a type of Christ, the Bread of heaven. The Bread of life.
Now of course they could not know at that time that manna was symbolic of Christ. We see that in hindsight. But they were guilty of the very thing that the Pharisees of Jesus’ day were guilty of, and they were guilty of the very thing that every Christ-hating, Christ-rejecting man, woman or child of history is guilty of. They loathed God’s life-giving provision, and they rejected it. In fact the more precise wording of Numbers 21:6 is “Our souls loathe this miserable food”.
So Numbers 21:6-10 says:
“The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. 8 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” 9 And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. 10 Now the sons of Israel moved out and camped in Oboth.”
So did this register in the mind of the teacher of Israel? Was he familiar with this accout? Oh, you bet your life he was.
Moses was one of the two most revered men in the history of the Jews, the other being Abraham, and they knew every detail of his life and his deeds minutely.
So when Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man, a term that also would have resonated in this Jewish teacher’s mind as a reference to the expected Anointed One of God; the One who was seen by Daniel (chapter 7) approaching the Ancient of Days, and said that He must be lifted up from the earth in the likeness of the brass serpent on the standard in Moses’ hand, and finished with ‘…so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life’, Nicodemus could have received that as no other statement than an answer to his second question: “This is how these things be!”
Nicodemus. Remember how the people sinned the sin of unbelief against God and He sent serpents among them? Remember how He gave Moses the sign of the serpent impaled on a pole and said if they only look up in belief they’d be saved? Well I’m going to be lifted up from the earth and all who look up at me in belief will be saved. That is how the inner work will be done. That is what the Spirit will use to impart life. That is the Gospel, that is the good news of God, which is the very power of God for salvation for all who believe, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Oh, well, Jesus didn’t say all of that to Nicodemus, but that’s all true, and that’s how it was going to work and that’s the answer Jesus gave to Nicodemus’ question of confusion.
Then follows two of the most well-known verses of the Bible, and hopefully they will have added dimension for you now as you look at them in this light.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
That, Nicodemus, is how these things be.
WHAT NICODEMUS REALLY NEEDS
In the remainder of this discourse Jesus will explain what Nicodemus really needs. He came seeking understanding. But God will never give us understanding apart from belief. Understanding without belief would be a dangerous thing.
I say that because if there is no belief then there is no birth from above. If there is no birth from above then there is no spiritual life. If there is no spiritual life then there is only fleshly life which is really death, which means understanding can only be on a fleshly, dead level.
So what happens? A person gains some head knowledge, thinks he has the information he needs, and continues to reject God, content and confident in his head knowledge which will die with him.
He thinks he knows something and in reality he knows nothing. “Are you the teacher of Israel and you do not understand these things?”
Jesus knew the answer to that question; it was rhetorical. He wanted Nicodemus to think about it and realize how valueless all his great learning was.
Paul figured that out, didn’t he?
“…for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, 4 although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. 7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Phil 3:3-11
No matter where you look in the Bible, and probably made more prominent in the New Testament only by virtue of the doctrinal epistles found there, you will always find belief to be a prerequisite to understanding. You will never find Jesus or the Apostles calling for understanding where there is no belief.
You’ll never see them talking themselves blue in the face trying to convince someone of the truth of anything beyond the simple Gospel of Jesus Christ. The crucified and risen Son of God. Until they have believed in that and been quickened with the life that comes from above they will understand nothing.
I appreciate the JB Phillips rendering of 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 which reads like this:
“But the unspiritual man simply cannot accept the matters which the Spirit deals with – they just don’t make sense to him, for, after all, you must be spiritual to see spiritual things. The spiritual man, on the other hand, has an insight into the meaning of everything, though his insight may baffle the man of the world. This is because the former is sharing God’s wisdom, and ‘who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?’ Incredible as it may sound, we who are spiritual have the very thoughts of Christ!”
Take note of the emphasis Jesus places on the absolute necessity of belief, even in just these 11 verses we’re studying today, He uses the word belief or refers to the acceptance of true testimony (which means belief) no less than 9 times.
But there is another reason for this strong emphasis on belief other than the lack of understanding, and it is really the greater reason. It is judgment.
Again, this must have been a hard pill for Nicodemus to swallow. He came looking for answers, he didn’t come here to be told that he was already under the judgment of God, but that’s exactly what he got.
What did Jesus say in earlier verses? We testify to what we have seen and know to be true and you reject our witness. You disbelieve.
Then what does He say in verse 18? “…he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God”
The Jews and many people today are obsessed with finding out what would qualify them for heaven. What do I have to do to go to heaven when I die? They’re asking the wrong question. Because not only is there nothing they can do to earn heaven, they are already judged worthy of Hell for what they HAVE NOT done!
Have you believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God? No. Then you are already judged and under God’s wrath. That’s the verdict. That’s what Jesus said in verse 19. This is the judgment. This is the verdict.
Do you get it? You didn’t even get your day in court! You showed up and sat down at the defendant’s table and your lawyer leaned over and said, ‘Don’t bother, it’s over. The Judge has already passed verdict. You’re guilty’
What? Why?
Because of your natural reaction to the Light. You see, people who are of the truth come to the Light and everyone can see that their works are wrought in God.
What does that mean?
Well, listen to Ephesians 2:10
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
Well, what does that mean? Who is ‘we’?
Believers. Those who have believed in the only begotten Son of God. God created them in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that they would walk in them. Their works, their deeds were wrought in God. That’s what that means.
Well what about my deeds?
You do them in the dark because they’re evil. They are not wrought in God.
Folks, let me tell you something right here. No matter what good you may think you’re doing, whether you are a doctor without borders or a wealthy philanthropist who builds shelters for the homeless or a religious person who gives up their health and their life holding the hands of lepers and victims of various terrible diseases as they die; no matter – you come up with your own list – if your deeds are not prepared by God before hand for you to walk in as one created in Christ Jesus for good works, then they are deeds of darkness and you will be judged for them.
Wait! I thought only people committing murder and adultery and theft and deceit and things like that were doing deeds of darkness. No, anything that does not give glory to God is of the darkness and will be judged as such.
Remember the people of Matthew 7 who will claim they have done many good things in the Lord’s name and therefore deserve heaven?
They aren’t claiming heinous deeds there. They are simply claiming deeds that were not wrought in God, were not done by His Spirit and for His glory. They will be judged accordingly.
I want to call to your attention that in our text the word ‘Light’ is capitalized in every case. That is because it is a reference to Jesus, the Light of the world, who came into the world, and when men reject the Light, John is not telling us that they are simply rejecting truth and understanding – they aren’t rejecting ‘enlightenment’, they are rejecting Jesus, THE Light.
If you and I get into a conversation with the average modern day man or woman and tell them that according to the Bible they reject light, and they take that reference to mean that they reject understanding and enlightenment, they will very quickly shut your argument down as absurd and they would be correct.
Oh, people are searching everywhere for understanding and enlightenment. They take pride in it.
You need to understand and they need to be told that in their human nature they have rejected the Light (capital ‘L’) who is a Person, who is God, who became a Man, in whose presence evil is exposed and works done by God’s Spirit and for His glory are brilliantly illumined as having been wrought in God.
The message is not that people need understanding, folks; the message is that people need to be born again.
So lets’ bring this back to Nicodemus so we can eventually close.
Nicodemus came seeking understanding and he went away having been told that his deeds were evil and of the darkness and that he needed to be born from above before he could ever begin to comprehend any spiritual truth.
So what should we be telling people? “Here, read this book”? “Go, see this movie”? “Sit down and listen while I explain how many angels can dance on the head of a pin”?
Nope. They need to hear what Nicodemus heard. Chuck the religious orthodoxy, doff the garment of self-righteousness. Recognize that all your deeds are of darkness and will be judged as such, and pray to God that He will give you His life from above as you look to the cross of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
Understanding? No. You don’t need that. You can’t have that. You need belief and that comes from above.
Can you just imagine the passion in the witness of Nicodemus after the resurrection and after he, as one of the believing, saw the risen Christ with his own eyes?
“I helped with the burial! I helped take His battered, shredded body down off of the cross and I helped Joseph of Arimethia carry Him to the tomb.
HE WAS DEAD! We had to wrap Him in a sheet just to transport Him, because He was so torn up we could hardly find a place to grab hold of. He was virtually bloodless, His eyes were fixed and sightless, there was no breath in Him, and no one will ever tell me that Jesus wasn’t dead when we laid Him in the tomb. But then the day after the Passover I saw Him! I saw Him in a glorious body. He just appeared seemingly from nowhere and He ate with us, and He looked at me, and I recognized the very eyes that one night not so very long ago danced with derision when He asked me if I was really the teacher of Israel. It was Jesus. He is risen!”
No, that’s not recorded anywhere; I just made it up…sort of…but it must have gone something like that.
You see, friends, 2000 years have passed and all those people who were there have been gone from this world for almost as long, but they saw and they knew and they were the first to receive the promise of the Holy Spirit and be born from above, and their spiritual understanding was opened and they wrote stuff down and God protected it and handed it down to us and we call it the Bible and only an utter fool, dead in sin and without any understanding at all, would make the audacious and indefensible claim that it is anything less than inerrant, infallible, immutable, God-breathed, living and active, sharp and revealing, able to complete the man of God and equip him for every good work.
Today you have heard the words of God from the Word of God who dwelt among us. Did you understand? Really? You won’t until and unless you’re born from above; born again. For people don’t believe because they understand. They only begin to understand when they have believed.
