“A SEEKER MEETS THE SAVIOUR”
(Sermon #7 in 2021 series on Gospel of John)
John 3: 1-21
Greenmount and O’Leary Churches of Christ
February 28, 2021
Video Link: https://youtu.be/vJW8x6WRn1A
INTRODUCTION:
1.) Among the phrases we so often hear in the church today are the words: “Seeker”, Seeker Friendly”, and “Seeker-Friendly Church”.
A.) To be honest, I have very mixed feelings on these terms, and on churches that aim in that direction.
B.) I have not seen lineups of the lost seeking Christ anymore in seeker-friendly than in other more traditional churches.
bb.) Realistically, I have observed the lost striving to fill what only Christ can satisfy with anything but Jesus Christ.
bba.) It can be money, power, sensuality, education, or other things but most people usually do not actually seek Christ.
2.) Having said these things I believe that once in awhile, there are some who look for Christ.
A.) In John 3 we meet a man who was truly seeking Christ.
I. A SEEKER COMES TO CHRIST. (3:1-2)
1.) The Seeker we are introduced to is Nicodemus (3:1a.)
A.) Nicodemus was a pharisee. (3:1b.)
aa.) In Scripture the Pharisees do not always come across in a positive light.
ab.) Many of the Pharisees caused problems for Jesus, but they were also the conservatives of the Jewish faith.
aba.) Many were rigid and calloused, but some of these men were men of faith true to God and His Word.
abb.) We are not told much about Nicodemus, but the little we are given indicates he was a man with a good heart seeking the truth.
B.) Nicodemus was one of the Jewish ruling council. (3:1c.)
ba.) This council of Sanhedrin consisted of Pharisees, and Sadducees led by the High Priest.
bc.) While this is a Jewish institution, the Elders of the Church, with the Chairman of the board would be similar today.
bd.) Having said this there would still be differences as these men would have had greater power than most elders today and were a larger group of seventy men.
2.) Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. (3:2a.)
A.) Some question why Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, but the Bible does not give the reason.
B.) I might speculate things such as:
ba.) He wanted private personal time with Jesus.
bb.) He may have wanted to honestly question Jesus on matters of faith.
bc.) He may have wanted time without the hypocrisy of other Pharisees and Sadducees who were against Jesus.
bca.) Again, Scripture does not say, these are only my speculations on his reasons.
3.) Nicodemus recognized the greatness of Jesus. (3:2b.)
A.) “Rabbi” (3:2b.)
aa.) Nicodemus addressed Jesus with the greatest of respect by calling him “Rabbi.”
aaa.) Some of the religious leaders would not have shown him such respect.
aab.) On one occasion Jesus was invited to the home of a Pharisee named Simon. (Luke 7:36-50)
.01) Jesus was the invited guest yet he was treated with contempt, and not even shown the normal social courtesies you would show to a guest.
.011) The heart of Nicodemus was different than that of Simon.
B.) “We know you are a teacher who has come from God.” (3:2c.)
ba.) These words compliment Jesus and acknowledge that he is from God.
bb.) These are also some of the most damning words on many of the Jewish leaders.
bba.) Nicodemus confesses that the Jewish leaders know that Jesus was from God.
bbb.) They know Jesus from the miracles Jesus performed.
.01) “For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” (3:2d.)
.02) One can only imagine God’s wrath towards spiritual leaders who knew Jesus came from God, and yet persecuted Him, even hanging him on a cross.
.021) I would certainly not want to stand up on the day of Judgment to answer for what they had done to Jesus with the full knowledge that he was the Christ, the Son of God.
II. A SEEKER NEEDS TO BE BORN AGAIN. (3:3-12)
1.) Jesus Cut to the chase and went to the heart of this man’s spiritual need.
A.) John 3:3
B.) To be part of the Kingdom of God, you must be born again.
ba.) As a Physical birth is necessary to enter this world, so also a spiritual rebirth was necessary to be born from above.
C.) Nicodemus has no understanding of what Jesus is speaking.
2.) Jesus is using a physical term to speak of a spiritual truth.
A.) In the book of John many who heard the teachings of Jesus could not make the connection from the physical to the spiritual.
aa.) Certainly, this was the case that night with Nicodemus.
aaa.) John 3:4
B.) Jesus repeats his challenge, this time adding that this new birth from above would come about through the Holy Spirit of God.
ba.) John 3:5-7
C.) The question is, what was Jesus speaking of?
ca.) Today many people say the water refers to the breaking of the amniotic sac in our mother’s womb when we were born into this world.
cb.) They will then go on to state that the reference to the Holy Spirit is a post-birth point of time when we come to have faith in Christ.
cba.) This view has only been taught in recent generations.
cbb.) Until more recent times this passage of Scripture has without exception been considered a reference to Christian Baptism, and nothing else.
D.) John’s baptism was a new teaching that had come in Judaism.
da.) We have already seen John’s baptism was of repentance for the forgiveness of sin.
daa.) John’s baptism was until the time of Christ.
dab.) John himself recognized that Jesus would also give the Holy Spirit of God.
.01) Matthew 3:11
E.) On Pentecost Christian baptism with the gift of the Holy Spirit would come into place.
ea.) Acts 2:38
eb.) From Pentecost onward a person’s saving obedient faith would bring him or her to be born again of water and of the Spirit as Jesus Had directed Nicodemus.
ec.) The Apostle Paul speaks on being born again to Titus.
eca.) Titus 3:5-7
ecb.) Paul speaks of a washing, and a rebirth, and that at that very time the Holy Spirit would renew us into the Kingdom of God.
F.) No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
fa.) Jesus knew that Nicodemus was very confused.
fb.) He was trying to figure it all out, but all he could see was physical birth.
fba.) I am not sure that Nicodemus even thought of John’s baptism.
fbb.) How is it possible to receive the Holy Spirit of God through this act?
fbb.) Jesus told Nicodemus that the Holy Spirit is like the wind. (3:8)
.01) Just as we do not know where the wind comes from or where it is going, we cannot understand the working of the Spirit of God.
.02) Isaiah 55:8-9.
.021) Like Nicodemus we cannot understand the working of God, nor how he can come in a person’s life at baptism, but we trust God that it is the case.
G.) Jesus clarifies his teaching on a spiritual rebirth. (3:12)
ba.) “I have spoken to you of earthly things, and you do not believe How then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things.” (3:12.)
III. A SEEKER IS INTRODUCED TO THE SAVIOUR. (3:13-17)
1.) “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven. (3:13a.)
A.) “The son of man.” (3:13b.)
aa.) All of this would be possible because of the Son of Man.
ab.) When Jesus would go back to heaven, he would be the bridge between heaven and earth.
B.) The only way we can understand this is that after the resurrection of Christ that Jesus would send the Holy Spirit as the abiding presence of God with the people of God after Jesus went go back to heaven.
ba.) Jesus illustrates his work with an incident from the Old Testament.
2.) The serpent in the wilderness was a type of Christ. (3:14-17)
A.) “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up.” (3:14)
B.) The account Jesus is referring to is in Numbers 21.
ba.) The King of Arad had attacked the Israelites and captured some of them. (21:1)
bb.) This led Israel to make a vow to God that if he would deliver them, they would destroy the cities that had attacked them. (21:2-3).
bba.) God was faithful to Israel and gave them the victory, and they destroyed those cities.
bc.) It was not long after this the people grew impatient with God and with Moses. (21:4-5)
bca.) They spoke against God.
bcb.) There is no food or water.
bcc.) The only thing we can eat is this miserable food (which is how they were describing the manna from heaven), a gift from God.
bd.) God got his fill of them running him down, and complaining about his love, generosity, and goodness, and sent a judgment of venomous snakes through the Israelites.
be.) The snakes bit and killed several the people.
bg.) It was only then they repented and sought the forgiveness of God. (21:8- 9)
bh.) God told them to make a bronze snake and mount it on a pole.
bha.) If they would look at the snake they would be healed.
C.) Even today you see this same symbol on ambulances, hospitals, and as the ensign of the Medical Association.
D.) The Serpent in the wilderness was a type of Christ.
da.) Like the Serpent in the wilderness, Jesus, and the cross reveals the mercy and grace of God to mankind.
db.) As Jesus is explaining these things to Nicodemus, he tells him that one day the Son of Man would be lifted on a cross just as the snake was lifted on the pole.
dc.) When Nicodemus would see the Son of Man lifted up it would all make sense on his need for salvation.
dd.) Jesus explained the plan of God for salvation to Nicodemus.
E.) “For God so loved the world” (3:16a.)
ea.) That was the basis of everything that Jesus was describing to him.
eaa.) It was also the very heart of God.
eb.) “that he gave his one and only Son” (3:16b.)
eba.) Jesus explained that therefore the Son of man would be lifted.
ebb.) “that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (3:16c.)
F.) John 3:17
IV. A SEEKER HEARS WORDS OF HIS NEED FOR FAITH IN CHRIST. (3:18-21)
1.) “Whoever Believes in Him is not condemned. But whoever does not believe stands condemned already” (3:18a.)
A.) “because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only son.” (3:18b.)
2.) Not everyone will come to faith in Christ.
A.) This is the verdict: Light has come into the world “But men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (3:19.)
aa.) On this night Jesus introduced Nicodemus to the Light of God.
B.) “Everyone who does evil hates the light “and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light So that it may be seen plainly what he has done” has been done through God.” (3:20-21c.)
C.) At this time salvation was not being given because Jesus had not yet died for sins, and the Holy Spirit had not yet been given.
ca.) The question we must ask is after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus over three years after this account, did Nicodemus ever come to a saving relationship with Christ?
cb.) While I cannot answer that question with 100 percent certainty, I want us to move ahead three and a half years to the crucifixion.
cba.) John 19:38-40
cbb.) I think it is likely that when Nicodemus saw the Son of Man raised up, he put his faith in him.
cbc.) To speak beyond this would only be speculation, but my thought is that Nicodemus would likely have been one of those 3,000 who were born again of the water and the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.
CONCLUSION:
1.) As we leave this account today, we truly see a man who was a seeker, but more than this one who I believe found the Saviour.
2.) If you are seeking him today, he will bring you to find him as well.
A.) Jeremiah 29:13 tells us: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
3.) If you have sought the Saviour have you been born again?
A.) Today is the day of salvation. If Christ is speaking to you today won’t you come through faith to the waters of baptism where you too may experience the new birth.
