TRAGIC KNOWLEDGE

John 3:9–15 NKJV

Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

Main Idea: Knowledge about God and the Bible alone will not get you into heaven.

Key Question: What are you trusting in for salvation?

1. Knowledge is tragic when it is only for your head. (v. 9-10)

John 3:9–10 NKJV

Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?

James 2:19 NKJV

You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!

Matthew 7:21 NKJV

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

2. Knowledge is tragic when it is not personal. (v. 11)

John 3:11 NKJV

Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.

John 3:3 NKJV

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Acts 3:19 NKJV

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

3. Knowledge is tragic when it does not point you to your greatest need. (v. 12-15)

John 3:12–15 NKJV

If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

Numbers 21:8–9 NKJV

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

John 12:32 NKJV

And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”

Acts 20:20–21 NKJV

how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.