“Look to Jesus and Live”
John 3:1-17
“Religion can be boring.
You don’t have to do any research to prove the point. Just compare the crowd at church with the crowds that attend baseball or football games. Apparently there is no excitement at church that compares with that of the NBA, especially when the Chicago Bulls [Golden State Warriors] are in the Play-offs. [Or Giants home opener].
Why this monotony, this lack of excitement?
It is not easy being faithful to rituals, even if we do understand their meaning. Nor is there much excitement in trying to live up to a moral standard we know we can’t meet. One person told me, ‘I find myself expending my energy for church, but I don’t get anything in return.’ This is not a new problem. By nature we humans define our religion by what we expect ourselves and others to do. And ‘doing’ becomes wearisome. Boring – at times, boring indeed.”
“How You Can Be Sure You Will Spend Eternity with God”, by Dr. Erwin Lutzer, pgs. 69-70
Conceivably this is the motivation behind why people want to keep tinkering with Jesus’ church that He established! It is HIS CHURCH!
Seeking to make it more:
* Exciting!
* Fun!
* Inclusive!
* Relative!
* Palatable!
We think we need to help Jesus out because people are less interested in being a part of what He is doing in the world.
Jesus said He would build HIS Church.
Jesus also said the powers of Hell will not conquer it (HIS Church).
Easter was two weeks ago! We were reminded anew about the Death, Burial and Resurrection of the LORD Jesus Christ.
Dr. Neal Brower a few weeks before took us through the Acts of the Apostles looking at changed lives and expanding growth after the church was born on Pentecost!
God’s Church is Unstoppable!
God’s work of transforming lives is still supposed to be happening!
* I would like us to linger a little longer on the topic of the New Birth made possible because of Jesus’ work on the Cross (death, burial, resurrection and ascension).
* Linger like someone contemplating or pondering a great Masterpiece of Art!
SETTING AND CONTEXT:
John the Apostle is writing his gospel. He opened his book telling us Jesus is God the Son – the Word made Flesh from eternity past (i.e. eternal).
He closes John 2 with these words that lead us into John chapter 3.
But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
John 2:24-25 ESV
Jesus knows precisely what is going on with every person on planet earth!
* He knows my heart!
* He knows your heart!
Immediately after these verses John illustrates Jesus’ knowledge of people’s hearts from Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus a Pharisee, the Woman at the well a Samaritan, and others throughout the Gospel of John.
DIVINE APPOINTMENT WITH NICODEMUS
John 3:1-2
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
John 3:1-2 ESV
WHO WAS NICODEMUS?
A Pharisee
* Pharisees held to strict religious devotion (orthodox).
These guys made plans to make plans!
They had regulations to define and explain their regulations on how to keep the Law!
* They wrote the Mishnah (rules on how to keep the Law)
Examples: They could not carry food larger than a dried fig, nor an amount for a drink any larger than one swallow of milk on the Sabbath.
If they needed to draw water from a well with a bucket and a rope was not tied to the bucket they could not tie a knot in the rope. But since a woman could tie a knot in their sash they could tie a sash with a knot on the bucket.
* Some believed their roots went back to the time of Daniel.
The Pharisees sought to remain faithful to God and Israel as Daniel and the three other captives did amidst a pagan culture after being deported to Babylon.
A Ruler of the Jews
* He was a member of the Sanhedrin (Ruling Council or Assembly) made up of 71 Men (70 plus the High Priest).
The Teacher of Israel (John 3:10)
* Not just a teacher but “The Teacher” of Israel!
Nicodemus comes under the cloak of darkness to converse with Jesus.
Why at night? A case can be made for either of these views:
* He didn’t want to be seen by others talking with Jesus. Both John the Baptist and Jesus called the Religious leaders into question.
* He may have wanted a more private forum to discuss Jesus’ teachings.
NICODEMUS BEGINS THE CONVERSATION:
“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
Nicodemus appears to be speaking on behalf of him and others.
Jesus you got our attention (miraculous signs from God).
JESUS RESPONSE TO NICODEMUS
Jesus cuts to the chase! Jesus wasn’t looking for an invitation to their club!
* Jesus with X-Ray vision (Omniscience) knows the condition of his heart!
* Not only is it night but also Jesus sees the darkness and spiritual bondage that is holding Nicodemus captive!
* He knows the condition of each one of our souls as well. He knows if we need Christ as our Savior or if there are things keeping us held in bondage in our lives too.
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
John 3:3 ESV
I do not think this is the answer Nicodemus wanted to hear!
BORN AGAIN?
* Born Again became a prominent word in the 1970’s and 1980’s when President Jimmy Carter said that he was “Born Again” and Chuck Colson, Nixon’s Watergate Hatchet man was converted to Christ while in prison and wrote the book “Born Again!”
* Billy Graham also wrote: “How to be Born Again?”
Sadly this word was “hijacked” by our society and redefined!
Today everything and everyone can be “Born Again!”
* Failing Companies – Born Again!
* Born Again Atheists!
* Losing Sport Teams – Born Again!
* Failing Careers of Actors and Musical Artists – Born Again!
There are also people today that say they have been “Born Again” but their life has never be changed. There is no evidence that they have turned from sin (repentance) and turned to Christ (regeneration).
Example: Larry Flint, publisher of Hustler Magazine never turned from his pornographic empire that he built.
“Born Again” = Born from Above! Spiritually Born by God!
Today in trying to identify someone as a true follower of God or Christian we say they are a “Born Again Christian.”
Saints, you are either a Christian (follower of Christ) or not a Christian!
Using the term: “Born Again” Christian is like using these terms:
* “An Unmarried Bachelor” – from R.C. Sproul
* “A three-sided triangle” – from R.C. Sproul
* “Chili Con Carne with meat!”
* “Two Twins” - Do you mean quads? Or two sets of twins?
* “True truth” – Francis Schaffer
NICODEMUS
Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” John 3:4 ESV
Hey, I’m too old to change!
It was tough enough coming out the first time!
How am I going to do it again now?
JESUS
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
John 3:5 ESV
Jesus is likely referring back to this Old Testament truth about a changed heart:
Ezek. 36:25-27 NLT “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. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.
JESUS MAKES IT EVEN CLEARER
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ John 3:6-7 ESV
PHYSICAL BIRTH
Physical birth and life is a unique miracle and gift from God to parents.
* Each parent brings a set of chromosomes (23 pairs from the male and 23 pairs from the female = 46 pairs) for contraception. This contains our DNA!
* This is why in the beginning God made them male and female!
* Marriage and human life (all human life) is sacred!
Just looking at the complexity of your eyes and how you see or intricacy of your ears and how you hear is enough to dispel evolution.
How foolish to think that primordial slim slithered out of the mud and eventually had lungs, a heart, a brain, arms, legs, hands, fingers, eyes and ears.
Psa. 139:14 ESV I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
SPIRITUAL BIRTH
Spiritual birth is equally miraculous!
God again is the giver of life (spiritual life)
Two are involved in the process of Spiritual Birth like natural birth.
Born by the Word of God
1Pet. 1:23 NIV For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
Born by the Holy Spirit
John 6:63 NLT The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
* Regeneration – made us alive
Titus 3:5 NLT “…he (GOD our Savior) saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.
* Justification – cleansed us from sin
Rom. 8:2 NLT And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
I UNDERSTAND THIS REALITY
* I was born physically in 1958. Brought into this world by my parents and the miracle of birth God gives to parents.
* I grew up physically. But I was lost spiritually. Even though I was raised in a Catholic, baptized as an infant, attending church or catechism classes every week making my first Holy Communion and eventually Confirmed.
* Both sets of my Grandparents faithfully attended church until they died (one set Lutheran and the other Catholic) setting an example for me (married 50-60 years).
* But not until Thanksgiving 1978 was I “Born from Above” “Born of God” Regenerated by the Holy Spirit and Word of God!
Our physical birth and body is prepared for life on earth.
Spiritual birth prepares us for eternal life and the environment of heaven!
EVIDENCE OF THE SPIRIT’S ACTIVITY
The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:8 ESV
Holy Spirit and wind are interchangeable words in Greek!
We cannot see wind (it is mysterious / unpredictable)
Old Testament Illustration (Valley of Dry Bones – Ezekiel) – dry bones can’t come to life by themselves. Neither can we be born from above without the Holy Spirit.
Ezek. 37:4-5 NLT Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again!
Ezek. 37:9b NLT ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’”
The Holy Spirit is invisible!
However, we can see the effects and evidence of the wind and the Holy Spirit!
* The work of the Holy Spirit is seen in the life of a follower of Christ when the Fruit of the Holy Spirit is manifest.
* It reveals you are Born from Above / Born from God!
NICODEMUS
Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”
John 3:9 ESV
JESUS
Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel
and yet you do not understand these things?
John 3:10 ESV
Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. John 3:11-13 ESV
OLD TESTAMENT ILLUSTRATION
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. John 3:14-15 ESV
Here is the context: The people had sinned complaining to God in the wilderness (Numbers 21:4-6).
* God sent venomous snakes to bite the people.
* The poisonous venom burned like fire.
* Those bitten by the snakes died.
It is like a scene from Indiana Jones!
The people repented and asked Moses to intercede on their behalf. God told Moses to make a snake and put it on a pole.
If those who were bitten looked to the bronze snake they lived (no matter how sick or close to death)!
Simple: Look and Live!
The cure rate was 100%!
But those who refused God’s remedy (look and live) perished!
“Even in their death agonies, in the throes of terror and pain inflicted by the serpents, they would not trust God’s prescribed course – even though the cure rate was one hundred percent.”
Dr. R.C. Sproul, John: St. Andrews Commentary, pg. 43
Let’s fast-forward to today – 2016!
The world has been bitten by the venomous contagion of sin!
For the wages of sin is death,
Rom. 6:23a NLT
Ever since sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden we have been terminal!
The contagion of sin affects and warps every aspect of our lives:
* How we think
* Our Relationships – marriages, families, racial and gender tensions
* Our health – diseases, abnormalities and mental illness
Every day people grope in the darkness seeking to find the anti-venom.
The antidote is available!
* God gave the remedy!
* God gave the cure!
* God gave the antidote!
“LOOK TO JESUS AND LIVE!”
“…but the free gift of God is eternal life
through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Rom. 6:23b NLT
GOD’S LOVE ILLUSTRATED
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should
not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 ESV
This verse does not teach universalism (everyone is saved because God loved the world).
Modern Culture: “God so loved the world that God gave His Son to save everyone in the world” – Dr. R.C. Sproul
It is calling the lost to believe and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior!
Believes in: (trusts in, clings to, relies on)
John Payton, Missionary to the New Hebrides was looking how to translate believe. He was tired and rested in a lawn chair. A native observed and said, “Its good to stretch yourself out and rest when you’re tired”
Kenneth O Gangel, Holman New Testament Commentary – John, pg 53
“stretch out and rest”
“LOOK TO JESUS AND LIVE”
Those of you who believe on Christ, God wants you to know yourself loved, not only with universal love of John 3:16, but also with his death-conquering, hardness-removing, rebellion-eradicating, sight-imparting, faith-creating, personal, individual, invincible covenant love of which we are absolutely undeserving.
John Piper: God So Loved the World, Part 2, May 10, 2009 – Desiring God
There is not a smorgasbord of roads and options for salvation.
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6 NIV
“…Are you one who gets angry when [they hear] there is only one way to God? The question is not, ‘Why is there only one way?’ but ‘Why is there even one way?’ The answer to that question is that God loved the world enough to create a way. However, He didn’t love the world enough to say that we can ignore the way He has provided.”
Dr. R.C. Sproul, John: St. Andrews Commentary
Jesus should not even be mentioned in the same breath with Mohamed, Buddha, Confucius, [Joseph Smith, or any other false prophet, person or religious leader]!
Dr. R.C. Sproul, John: St. Andrews Commentary
“Religion is fueled by the secret dread that God
is looking for a reason to condemn and destroy.”
Chuck Swindoll
But that is not what God’s Word teaches:
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:17 ESV
It was the love of God that sent Jesus on a mission to rescue us!
* One day the world will end. God will destroy it.
* Those that perish will perish like those in the Old Testament that refused to accept God’s antidote – Look and Live!
OUR RESPONSE TO JESUS
“LOOK TO JESUS AND LIVE!”
God’s cure rate is 100%
Salvation isn’t obtained:
* By becoming a member of a church.
* By raising your hand or praying at an altar!
* Because your parents or grandparents are Christians.
You must be born again! Born from above! Born by God!
Perhaps that is why church is boring. It is hard to try to walk with God and please God in the flesh when you are not Born from Above.
It was difficult for Nicodemus too until he was spiritually born by God. We know this because after the death of Jesus he helped to bury Jesus. He was a follower of God!
As His followers we need to faithfully share this message with others!
“LOOK TO JESUS AND LIVE!”
