The Fourth Sunday In Advent: Love Series

(Based on and edited from a message preached at First Baptist Church, Chamois, MO on 12-18-22. This is not an exact transcription.)

Introduction: There is no greater expression of love, anywhere, when we think about how Jesus left Heaven to come to this earth, to be born like us, live with us, die for us, and come back to life to bring us salvation. The text isn’t really a Christmas theme, but you can’t help but find love in nearly every verse of it. Let’s read together:

Text: John 3:1-18, NASB: 1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came to Jesus at night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a person be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?”5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus responded and said to Him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? 11Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you people do not accept our testimony. 12 If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13No one has ascended into heaven, except He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes will have eternal life in Him.

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. 18 The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

<prayer>

I mentioned this isn’t a passage most people think of at Christmas time, but it does lead into the greatest gift anyone could give or receive—and that’s God’s gift of salvation. In a word, it’s love, and there is no greater love than what God has for us.

The text has two divisions, we could say: first, the conversation and then the explanation. Let’s take a look at the conversation first:

We first meet with a very well-known, well-educated, well-respected leader of the Jews, name Nicodemus. John tells us in the first few verses that he came to Jesus by night—but he never gave the location. In fact, it could have been anywhere between Cana of Galilee, mentioned in John 2, and Jerusalem itself. I kind of doubt Nicodemus would have gone very far away from Jerusalem, especially at night, unless he had a really strong reason to do so!

And this, to him, was a very strong reason indeed. He found Jesus, wherever He was, and expressed his own statement: “Rabbi, we know You came from God as a teacher (part and parcel of what a rabbi did, apparently) and nobody can do these signs that You’re doing unless God is with Him.” Now, there’s something that has left me puzzled for a long time, and that’s what things Nicodemus might have seen! The only recorded miracle in John’s gospel, to this point, was the changing of water to wine in John 2—but were there others? John did say in the last verses of his gospel that the whole world couldn’t contain all that Jesus did!

Or, had Nicodemus seen Jesus cleanse the temple, also in John 2? That would be a sign, and I haven’t read of anybody, anywhere, who did anything even close to what Jesus did here.