The transcript of the message can be read below
Revelation 2:7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
John 3:1-17 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” 3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. 10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in Him.”
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
John 3:1-17 ASKING QUESTIONS
Springford Baptist Church: January 24, 2021.
We can all think of conversations we have had where someone was asking questions but not really listening for the answers. When we come to God and ask Him our questions, are we really prepared to listen for the answers?
In John 3, we can listen in on a conversation with Jesus where significant questions are asked and answered. This reality of the new birth that Jesus describes gives us hope in spite of the reality of evil-hope for this life and for our eternal life to come in heaven.
The conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus highlights both the opportunity and necessity of the new birth.
One of the things I notice in this conversation is Jesus’ willingness to explain and to give Nicodemus the opportunity to understand and to receive this gift of the new birth.
We know from John 3:16 that it was love, deep love, that prompted God to send Jesus into our world to give His life for us. This is so that we can believe and have the gift of eternal life.
I see evidence here of love from Jesus expressed toward Nicodemus. It is good that Nicodemus has questions and wants to understand the truth. Jesus carefully explains the reality of the new birth to Nicodemus.
It is real love and real respect expressed toward people we know that will give them the chance to ask honest questions and to discover the opportunity for the new birth that Jesus has made possible.
As we are reading this Scripture, we can be thankful all over again for God’s grace in giving us this opportunity for new birth.
When we hear Nicodemus’s questions, we can see a step by step progression in a faith journey that can result in new birth.
It begins with Nicodemus coming to Jesus because he wants to know what is true. We have recognized an essential quest for truth in these times we are living. Truth can become so corrupted and it takes effort to identify the truth. It is good news that the truth is to be found in Jesus!
Now we see here that Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council came to Jesus by night. There is often an assumption that Nicodemus did this because he was afraid of what others would think and wanted to keep his meeting with Jesus secret. There is also the possibility that Nicodemus came at night because he wanted a long and uninterrupted talk with Jesus and this would have been difficult in the daytime with all the crowds around Jesus. Whatever his motivation for coming, when he did, it is apparent that Nicodemus was eager to talk with Jesus.
How eager are we to spend time with Jesus and to take extended time to explore truth with Him? This is necessary if we are serious about LISTENING FOR GOD.
We recognize that Nicodemus wants to know what is true and we see that Nicodemus has already drawn a conclusion about Jesus.
vs. 2 “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Nicodemus does believe that Jesus has come from God, but Jesus makes it clear that there is more involved than believing that Jesus has been sent from God.
Nicodemus has taken one step in his journey of faith, but there are more steps needed.
vs. 3 “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
No one can experience the reign of God apart from new birth, rebirth. This is a gift that does not depend on race or strict religious observance of rules like the Pharisees followed.
To be born again involves abandonment of every attempt to be good enough or to think we can do anything to deserve the gift that God offers.
There must be a willing
acceptance of the free gift of God’s grace.
This is actually
very liberating, but we are so used as Nicodemus was, to working hard
to earn something, that admitting there is nothing we can do comes
hard.
Nicodemus must take another step in his faith journey. He must recognize that this is a supernatural birth. Nicodemus has a great deal of theological understanding, but this seems to get in the way of the simple truth that Jesus is making available to him.
vs. 4 “How can someone be born when they are old…”?
With this opportunity to receive new birth, Nicodemus gets tangled up in the limitations he is putting on this rebirth. He is holding on to the only understanding of birth he has, which is physical.
Receiving what God has for us on our journey of faith always involves being open to something more than what we already know and have experienced. This is possible to access when we are LISTENING FOR GOD.
(vss. 5-8) Jesus
clearly tells Nicodemus that he should not be surprised that he must
be born again. This necessity is for everyone. This is the work of
the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in charge and works as He pleases in
human hearts to bring about new birth, rebirth. Like the wind, we
cannot tell where it comes from and where it is going…
If we
only accept what we can see coming and going, we limit what God has
for us.
Nicodemus should not be unaware of the power of God to change human lives and neither should we.
This revelation about the new birth as the gateway to the kingdom of God (the reign or rule of God) inevitably becomes, as the conversation continues, a revelation about Jesus Himself.
vs. 13 He does initiate the kingdom of heaven because He is the One who has come down from heaven to earth.
He has become human flesh.
Although heaven is His permanent home, He has come to live among human beings to reveal to them what they could not discover themselves on their journey of faith no matter how intently they tried.
vss. 14, 15 We must be born again and the way that Jesus will bring this about is the cross: “… so the Son of man must be lifted up that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.”
Jesus will die in this way on the cross precisely because this is the way that God has chosen to reveal His love for sinners.
The conversation gets summed up in vss. 16, 17:
“For God so loved the world…”
Nicodemus entered into conversation with Jesus because he wanted to understand why Jesus had come from God. He had questions to ask.
Anyone’s journey of faith must lead to the cross to recognize God’s immense love expressed there when Jesus is lifted up for everyone to see and to secure the means of rebirth-God’s supernatural plan!
I have said that this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus highlights both the opportunity and necessity for new birth. If our journey of faith and our LISTENING FOR GOD stops short of the new birth, being born again from above, it is incomplete.
If someone is climbing steps to view a remarkable sight and stops short of the necessity of the last step then, what was possible to experience is missed.
When that step is taken, then all that God intends for us is available including eternal life in heaven with the One who loves us more than anyone else ever could.
What questions are you asking God? How are you listening for the answers? Have you taken that crucial step of commitment in being reborn by trusting Jesus to do for you what you cannot do for yourself? What is your answer to that question? And having taken that step on Your journey of faith, what is the next step you are to take in LISTENING FOR GOD?