THE NEW BIRTH.
John 3:1-21.
JOHN 3:1. Nicodemus was a member of the strictest sect of the Jews: the Pharisees. No doubt he sought to keep all the man-made rules of his religion, as well as the law of God which was given to Moses. Nicodemus was a religious man; an upright man; a leader; a teacher; respected in society: yet Nicodemus knew within himself that something was missing in his life. UNTIL WE COME TO FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, THERE IS INDEED SOMETHING MISSING IN OUR LIVES.
JOHN 3:2. Because of his position, fearing what people may think of him seeking advice from Jesus, Nicodemus made his approach to our Lord secretly, and at night. Better that than not at all! Nicodemus had a good opinion of Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, addressing Jesus with the respect due to a teacher and to a holy man. “We know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles (signs) that thou doest, except God be with him.”
JOHN 3:3. In reply Jesus declared: “EXCEPT A MAN BE BORN AGAIN, HE CANNOT SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD.” So, Nicodemus was missing something. With the generality of mankind, he was presuming upon his own ability to qualify for heaven. If anyone thinks they can get to heaven by their own good works, they will surely fail: “You must be born again.”
JOHN 3:4. Still this teacher of the Jews faltered: "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter the second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
JOHN 3:5. Jesus answered, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
JOHN 3:6. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh,” says Jesus; “and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” To be born again, or born anew, is to be born from above, to be born of God. It is a spiritual birth in which God’s Holy Spirit bears us into the family of God, male and female individuals becoming heirs of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ.
JOHN 3:7. Jesus said, “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”
JOHN 3:8. In a play on words that works in both the Greek and Hebrew languages, Jesus continued,’ The wind blows where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.”
The same word means both WIND and SPIRIT, and is also used to signify the BREATH of God! So, just as God first breathed the breath of life into the clay which He had fashioned into man, and just as He is said to out-breathe the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments [which is the literal meaning of ‘inspiration’ (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16)], so God breathes into His people the breath of the new life in Christ Jesus. This is not to the credit of the preacher, nor of the convert to Christianity. It is all to the praise of God Himself!
JOHN 3:9. Poor Nicodemus was still struggling: “HOW CAN THIS BE?” Man cannot easily concede that heaven is attained not by his own merit, but only by the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ. Folks love to think that they are good enough, and no-one, they imagine, should say otherwise.
People need to get away from the notion that they are good enough for God, or that they can co-operate with Him in the mighty work of their salvation from their sins. We must rather learn to turn to Him, wholeheartedly, relying on Him alone for our salvation, trusting not in our own righteousness, but in the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. We all need faith to believe these things, and to put our trust in Him: without Him we can do nothing!
JOHN 3:10-12. Jesus wanted to tell Nicodemus more things but, like so many of us, Nicodemus was dull of sense. Mere man cannot grasp the realities represented to him in “earthly” things, as Jesus put it. Jesus wanted to speak of “heavenly” things.
JOHN 3:13. “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.”
Jesus was not merely ‘a teacher come from God,’ (cf. John 3:2), but a sharer of the divine nature, who was ‘in the beginning with God’ (cf. John 1:1-2). He is the One who (in the incarnation) “came down from heaven,” and He is (since the ascension) “the Son of man which is in heaven.”
JOHN 3:14. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” This refers back to an incident during the wilderness wanderings of the children of Israel (cf. Numbers 21:4-9), and forward to the crucifixion.
If a serpent on a pole was a shocking symbol for a monotheistic people, so is the picture in our minds’ eye of the broken body of a man impaled upon a wooden cross. Yet, in both instances, this is what God commanded.
Without the brazen serpent there was no healing for the Israelite who had been bitten by a serpent (cf. Numbers 21:9) - and without the Cross there is no salvation for any one of us, bitten as we are by the sting of death which is sin (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:55-57).
JOHN 3:15. “That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Jesus was ‘lifted up’ in the crucifixion, so that everyone who “believeth in Him,” trusting not in themselves but trusting in His sacrificial blood, would have “eternal life.” It is through such faith that we receive this truth into our hearts.
JOHN 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
The source of man’s salvation is the love of God. The giving of His “only begotten Son” was and is, the supreme act of God’s love toward mankind. The “whosever” speaks of the universality of the love of God. As in the previous verse, it is “whosoever believeth in Him” who “should not (will not, shall not) perish, but have everlasting life.”
JOHN 3:17. “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.”
This was Jesus’ mission of salvation. Not to condemn, but to save. In the first advent Jesus came not to judge, but ‘to seek and to save that which is lost’ (cf. Luke 19:10).
JOHN 3:18. “He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
There is a privilege attached to belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is ‘no condemnation’ (cf. Romans 8:1). This shows the importance of having believing faith. Likewise, the peril of not believing is to find oneself “condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
Thus the cry of the Apostles, ‘believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved’ (Acts 16:31).
JOHN 3:19. “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
This is the true cause of condemnation. Light is come, but men prefer darkness because their deeds are evil. Salvation is of God, and is on offer for all men. This verse shows us that if anyone perishes, it is of their own doing.
JOHN 3:20. “For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.”
The ungodly person, the evil doer, hates the light, and will not come to the light lest their sins be exposed. And even some who have the outward appearance of coming to the light (e.g. through church attendance, &c.) may well harbour within their hearts a hatred towards the light of the gospel. No unregenerate person likes to hear that they are a sinner!
JOHN 3:21. “But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought of God.”
We are saved “unto good works” (cf. Ephesians 2:10). Works that bear fruit (cf. John 15:8). So those who are saved are not ashamed to come to the light, that their works may be manifest for what they are, to the glory of God (cf. Matthew 5:16).
