Received At Jerusalem And Teaches Nicodemus About Second Birth Series

Judea

RECEIVED AT JERUSALEM

John 2:23-25

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, on the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. (John 2:23)

No one ever challenged the miracles. Thousands were healed of disease and demon-possession. The Holy Spirit has chosen to give us only a glimpse of all the things that Jesus did. The people saw the miracles and the religious leaders and the Pharisees were also witnesses to them. It was no different here; during the feast, Jesus healed many, and people believed in Him because of the miracles. But this was not saving faith, they merely nodded assent at the miracles He did. Now notice what happens next.

But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of him: for he knew what was in man. (John 2:24-25)

He did not believe in them, even though they believed in Him, because He could see into their hearts and he knew that they did not have saving faith. This always is a danger for those who say they believe in Jesus. What do you mean when you say that you believe in Jesus? Do you mean that you believe in the facts of the Gospel? The important thing is, do you trust Him as your Savior? Did He die for your sins? Was He raised for your justification? Is He your only hope of heaven?

This crowd was interested, and when they saw the miracles, they believed. But He knew that their belief was not genuine, because He knew all men. He knew what was in their hearts. Therefore, He did not commit Himself to the crowd that was there. Later, when Nichodemus came to Him, He would commit Himself to him, because he had a genuine saving faith.

Suggest Teaching in Two Parts

--AD 27--

Judea

TEACHES NICODEMUS ABOUT SECOND BIRTH

(Numbers 21:8-9) John 3:1-21

The report of this event really began back in chapter two, so we will back up a couple of verses.

But Jesus did not commit himself to them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of any man: for he knew what was in man. There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. (John 2:24-3:1)

Jesus did not need for anyone to tell Him what men were like, because He knew men. Who could know you better than the one who created you? Jesus would not accept this crowd, because their faith was false, but this man Nicodemus was different. Jesus saw that he was genuine and that he was honestly seeking to know the truth. He was a Pharisee, and that meant that he was extremely religious. The Pharisee was very important to the ministry of Jesus, so let’s pause to look closely at what the Pharisee was at this time and how they came into being.

I believe that if you took the Pharisee out of the Gospels, you could not have the Gospels. Almost everything Jesus said (almost everything), He said it over against the Pharisees. Almost everything Jesus did (almost everything), He did in some form of confrontation with the Pharisees. Either they were confronting Him or He was confronting them. In fact, there is more than one place in the Bible where He actually “baited” them. There is a continual movement, backwards and forwards between them.

Galatians 4:4 says, that Jesus came, “When the time had fully come.” There was a movement of nations coming together. It was exactly the right time nationally and internationally, when Jesus was born. Even languages had to be developed. They had to have the Greek language, in order for the Bible to be written as it was. All these things came together, and at that moment when Jesus was born, everything just “dovetailed”. In the fullness of time, I believe one thing that had to wait, was the development of “world religion”. What I mean by world religion, is a religion that is born in this world? It is born, in fact, of Satan himself. It is a religion of self, yet it has the inspired word of God at its foundation. Now that’s a trick. I am not talking about Buddhism or Islam. I am talking about something that has the word of God at its foundation, yet the whole thing rises, spawned of Satan. It had to wait for that, yet when Jesus was born it had come to its fullness. It had been born a few years before, but now it had arrived. The day had come and there was never a day that religion was as strong. And Jesus came to confront that religion, eyeball to eyeball. He has to do it. He has to show us what His Gospel is not. It is not enough to show us what it is, He must show us what it is not. And so Jesus couldn’t be born until the Pharisees had come to their height. Then He stepped into the arena and took away the mask of religion and said, “I haven’t come to give you this.”