Nick @ Nite
John 3
Introduction:
Several years ago, when we lived in Fort Worth, the Houston Astros baseball team came to Arlington to play the Rangers. We had just moved up from the Houston area where we were big fans of the Astros.
I wasn’t sure who to cheer for until I saw Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio playing. It didn’t take long for me to feel the passion of an Astros fan coming back.
Today, as we come to the 3rd chapter of John we see Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night. Many theologians think that he came at night because he was afraid of the other religious leaders. This may be right, but the main reason he came is because he saw something in Jesus that he had never seen before. He felt a passion to understand more about this unique man. Nick needed to know more about Jesus, so he could decide whether or not to be a follower.
Text John 3:1-21
John 3
1There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2This 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.”
3Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4Nicodemus 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?”
5Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”
10Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
I want us to look at three things we need to learn from Nick’s conversation with Jesus
I. His ways are not our ways.
• When Jesus spoke of a new birth, Nicodemus was thinking of physical birth.
• Jesus was talking of a spiritual rebirth
• Nick thought salvation came from works, Jesus told him that eternal life comes from a relationship with Christ.
II. Jesus is the proof of God’s love for us.
• God so loved the world that…
• He gave us Him son
• He paid our price for Salvation
• He will give us eternal life.
• God came to us before we even thought about coming to Him.
• God reached out to you and me with His free gift of Salvation.
III. Jesus takes us from darkness to light.
• Vs. 19
19And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
• Nicodemus came at night, but left with the knowledge that Jesus IS the light
• We see Nick only two more times.
• When he defended Jesus in the Sanhedrin
• When he helped with the burial
• Nicodemus saw the light… Do you?
IV. Jesus must be lifted up
• Vs. 14-15
14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
• Christians, are you making a habit of lifting Jesus up for the lost to see?
• Do your words, actions, and attitudes imitate those of Jesus?
• If not, Why not?
