Start with the background
• Jesus had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover Celebration
• The sale of cattle and doves and the privilege of exchanging money were permitted in the temple court as a convenience for pilgrims who would need animals for sacrifice and temple shekels for their dues.
• Under the chief priests, however, the concessions had become merely a means of making money and had debased the temple into a market place.
• So Jesus steps in and deals with this He makes a whip out of rope
• And chases everyone out (EXPLAIN THE KAOS)
Which is what has led up to today’s text (John 3:1-15
• Here we find Nicodemus coming to talk with Jesus
• Now Nicodemus knew about Jesus but what do we know about Nicodemus
• Well first of all he was a Pharisee
1. Conservative vs Liberal
2. Pharisee would have been well learned in the Torah and the oral law
3. Being a Pharisee would have been at the temple and seen this or at least heard about it
4. He had heard if not seen the miracles of Jesus which had sparked his curiosity
5. In addition to today’s event triggered the need for answers
6. So not wanting his fellow brothers knowing what he was doing, slipped in under the cover of night.
So he sits down with Jesus and Jesus tells him what he wanted to hear
• Jesus knew why he was there
• And tells him, I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again
• Now this confuses Nicodemus who either would have interpreted this in one of two ways.
• 1st the way that our Western mind logically thinks of it – Impossibility of a 2nd birth.
• But on the other hand what if he meant, How can a man whose habits and ways of thinking that have been fixed for so long due to age, expect to change so radically?
• Physical rebirth is impossible, but is Spiritual Change any more feasible?
This is a question that remains today
• How can we expect someone who has lived their whole life without a relationship with Christ to be expected to change?
And Jesus response to Nicodemus is the same response that we must share with the World today.
Jesus says in verse 5 that
No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit
• What did Jesus mean by "water" and "Spirit"?
• Jesus wanted to clarify his teaching for Nicodemus,
• And to do this he would put it in terms that Nicodemus would have been familiar with.
• Since Jesus ministry came shortly after that of John the Baptist,
• Jesus was probably referring to John's preaching, which dealt with the baptism of water (signifying repentance)
• And with the coming messenger of God who would endow humans with the Holy Spirit (1:31-33). \
• The new birth is conditioned on the repentance and confession of the individual in response to the appeal of God and by the transformation of life by the gift of the Holy Spirit.
• Believe / Confess / Repent
So in the next 3 vs Jesus explains the need for this Read 6-8
• What Jesus is telling Nicodemus and us is that through the process of being born again there is going to be a change in the life of the sinner
• That requires more than an outer change but calls for inner change as well
• And this inner change is given only by the direct act of God.
• Just as the origin and the destination of the wind are unknown to the one who feels it, similarly the new life of one born of the Spirit is unexplainable by ordinary reasoning
And in vs 9 Nicodemus again brings up the question How Can This Be?
• This is a plea for direction.
• He wanted to know how this experience could become his.
• What must I do to be Saved?
• Nothing in the Judaism he knew offered anything like this.
The answer of Jesus accords with the words of Ezekiel in Eze 36:25-28.
Eze 36:25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols.
Eze 36:26 And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart.
Eze 36:27 And I will put my Spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command.
Those who converted to Judaism were washed completely,
• Issued new clothing, and then received into the family of God;
• But Israelites were regarded as sons of Abraham and children of God by covenant from birth.
So what Jesus was telling Nicodemus that his descent from Abraham was not adequate ground for salvation.
• He would have to repent / begin a new life in the Spirit if he expected to enter the kingdom of God
We see this happen a lot people think that just because their parents or Grandparents were Christians that they are by default Christians themselves.
• But this just isn’t so
• To be born again means that we must make a decision of our own
And in the following verses 10-15 Jesus holds him accountable
• He tells Nicodemus You oughta know this
• You are a respected teacher
• And if you can’t understand it when I explain Earthly things how will you ever be able to understand Heavenly things?
Jesus implies that he should have been familiar with the teaching of the new birth.
• Evidently Jesus felt that since the OT contained this teaching in principle,
• Those who read the Scriptures were responsible for knowing and believing the truth.
• The "earthly things" (GK G2103) Jesus refered to were probably the illustrations, such as the wind.
• If Nicodemus was unable to grasp the meaning of spiritual truth as conveyed by concrete analogy,
• how would he do so if it were couched in an abstract statement?
• No one had ever entered into heaven to experience its realities directly except Jesus himself, the Son of Man, who had come from heaven.
• Revelation, not discovery, is the basis for faith.
And finally in vs 14 -15 (READ )
This is a reference to a story in the Pentateuch (Nu 21:4-9) would have been familiar to Nicodemus,
• Because the Jewish scholars spent the larger part of each day in the study of Scripture and often memorized not only the Pentateuch but the entire OT.
The Bronze Snake
Nu 21:4 Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient along the way,
Nu 21:5 and they began to murmur against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this wretched manna!”
Nu 21:6 So the LORD sent poisonous snakes among them, and many of them were bitten and died.
Nu 21:7 Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.
Nu 21:8 Then the LORD told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to the top of a pole. Those who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!”
Nu 21:9 So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to the top of a pole. Whenever those who were bitten looked at the bronze snake, they recovered!
This scripture had several aspects applicable to the present situation.
(1) The ancient Israelites were guilty of disobedience and a grumbling and unthankful spirit.
(2) They were under the condemnation of God and were being punished for their sin. (3) The object elevated before them was the emblem of their judgment.
(4) They were unable to rescue themselves.
(5) The poison of the serpents was deadly, and there was no antidote for it.
(6) They were urged to look at the serpent in order to receive life.
Jesus insisted that he would be "lifted up" (GK G5738), a word used elsewhere for crucifixion (8:28; 12:32-33).
• He was summoning people to receive him as God's provision for the cure of sin
• and to place complete confidence in him for the future.
• Such confidence or belief would ensure par
