Nicodemus: Three Answers

There’s a thing I sometimes like to do as a dad. I like to answer questions that my kids don’t know they need to be asking… I might look at one of them while they’re eating breakfast and tell them, “In your mom’s car.” They look up from their cereal or frozen pancakes confused… I say something mysterious, “In time, you will understand.” Fast forward to when they’re getting dressed to leave. “Where are my shoes??” “All has been revealed!”

Jesus sometimes gives answers to questions people didn’t ask because they don’t realize they’re asking the wrong question, or sometimes we don’t even realize we need to be asking questions at all!

In this passage leading up to what is probably the best known verse of the Bible, Jesus gives Nicodemus some answers that Nicodemus didn’t know he needed. Jesus tells him what he needs to understand more than anything else!

This passage opens the door to some really fun and interesting conversations about the order of salvation and how predestination works, but we’re only here for about 30 minutes, not a whole semester! So we’re going to focus on the main thing Jesus wanted Nicodemus, and us, to understand.

Jesus wants us to understand that our greatest need is new life in Him from the Holy Spirit.

read and pray

(Not sure what to ask yet.)

1-3

Y’all know Josh likes to pick on me when I’m not here, sometimes even when I am. I don’t know if he did it last week or not. But I’m going to return the favor. Y’all send him a text today and tell him to leave me alone.

But Josh has some lines that he likes to repeat, you might call them catch phrases. He uses them often. In fact, one of them is “Josh doesn’t change.” There’s another one he uses when he hears about something crazy. If you tell him about something off the wall or goofy you did, or a situation that doesn’t make any sense to him, he’ll look at you for a second, shrug his shoulders, and say, “Well I’m not even sure what to ask here.”

I think that’s where Nicodemus is at with Jesus when we meet him.

Nicodemus was interested in Jesus. Even respectful of Jesus. But neither of those things would allow him to see the Kingdom of God. Are you just interested in Jesus, or are you a follower of Jesus?

Nicodemus is curious, but he’s also unsure. He wants to know more. He doesn’t actually ask Jesus a question, but Jesus still gives him the answer he needs.

We must be born again to see God’s Kingdom.

John 1:13 ESV

who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Being “born again” is one of many ways the Bible talks about what is known as regeneration.

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary Regeneration

REGENERATION Special act of God in which the recipient is passive. God alone awakens the person spiritually through the power of His Holy Spirit.

Paul talked about it like this…

Titus 3:5 ESV

he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

Being born again is an essential for seeing the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus went to Jesus curious and left with this eternally important truth.

Nicodemus has taken a step in John 3. An important first step. He’s been hearing about and watching Jesus. He’s been seeing other people interact with Jesus. But here he decides that he’s got to go to Jesus himself and have his own interactions with Jesus.

Have you had your own interaction with Jesus? Or have you just heard about him and seen other people interact with Him? This may be your first Sunday at church or you may have been here for years, either way it’s possibly that you haven’t had your own personal interaction with Him. If you haven’t, you must! You can not be born again with out it!

Nicodemus goes to Jesus and finds out he must be born again, and he has a reasonable response…

How can someone be born again?

4-8

He was probably feeling the way we feel when we try to pack an air mattress or something back into the box it came in, right?

Nicodemus is a Pharisee, a group that prided themselves on being holier than anybody else could dream of being. If there was anyone who deserved to get into Heaven, they thought it was them. But no one deserves to get into Heaven! If anyone could make themselves be born again, they could. But no one can do it.

Regeneration is a work of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 3:10–12 ESV

as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

It was really interesting to me that Jesus told him not to marvel at this. I wanted to know why He said it. So for all my studying, here is what I’m now sure of: I’m not sure. I think it’s one of two reasons:

First, he shouldn’t be surprised by this truth, the prophets talked about it! We’re going to see that Jesus even reprimands Nicodemus in the next few verses for not understanding these things.

Ezekiel 36:26 ESV

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Or, he was telling Nicodemus not to try to figure out how to make himself be born again. Remember, he was a Pharisee and they were all about self-righteousness. They wanted to do it themselves in their pride. Jesus may be saying “y’all can’t do this yourselves so don’t bother trying to figure it out”. He even changes from singular to plural in verse 7, from you to y’all. We can’t. It’s not possible. It’s only done by God the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Back in April when we had the tornado come through town, we were at some friends’ house because they have a storm shelter. I’d say it’s made for 7~8 people. We had two families of five, their cat, and our dog. And I don’t know if our dog had ever seen a cat before, but she sat on the floor and stared at that cat sitting on a shelf the whole time we were in there.

But we got down in that shelter and were in there for about 30 minutes. It was stuffy and hot. Condensation on the walls. No airflow. And I had gone straight from work, so I was not dressed for it. That warning ended and I was miserable. I asked Kristen if we had some time before the next wave and what she thought about me running home to change. She said, “I mean I think there’s some time.” I thought to myself, “she didn’t say no.” I snuck out and went down Wade Hampton to our house. As I was driving, I was thinking “it feels violent out here”. Kristen calls me when she realized I left… I get home and as I’m changing the power goes out.

I run back out to my truck and things have calmed down a little. Then I get on Wade Hampton and I barely got back to our friends’ house because there were multiple large trees down across the road.

I didn’t see the wind, but I definitely knew it had been there!

We can’t make ourselves or anyone else be born again. We can’t cause or control regeneration. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. But when the Spirit does his work, you can tell He’s been there! Things are different, rearranged, some things get uprooted.

Is there evidence of the Spirit’s work in your life? You can’t do good works to make yourself be born again, but once you have been born again you will want to do good works! Eph 2:10 tells us we are saved for good works. Walking in those good works is the evidence of new life, of regeneration in the heart of a believer! So, is there evidence in your life? Are you striving to obey the commands of God? To rid your life of sin? If not, something is missing. Something is off, and it’s eternally important for you to examine that and pray about it. The Christian life is a life of surrender, but it’s a surrender to something better.

This is a lot for Nicodemus. He realizes that something is off, something is missing in his understanding of God. What Jesus is telling him is different from everything he’s learned. That gives him one last question for Jesus.

You serious Clark?

9-15

He doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand what Jesus is telling him. He wants to know how these things are true.

It seems as if he’s wanting to understand this new thing Jesus is telling him, but he’s stuck in his old way of understanding and he’s trying to get out. You may find yourself in a similar spot today…

This is made possible by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus references a story from the Israelites time in the wilderness, from Numbers 21…

Hebrews 9:28 ESV

so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Jesus gives Nicodemus the Gospel, He gives him the truth. Now the question becomes what will Nicodemus do with it? Turn that question on yourself: When you receive God’s truth, what will you do with it? Whether it’s about being born again, or something else… Will you believe it or will you believe and follow another voice?

Nicodemus, it seems, believes Jesus and therefore receives life. We know this because of the other appearances he makes in John’s Gospel. A few chapters later, he defends Jesus before his peers. Then he provides the aloes and spices for Jesus’ burial, enough for a king. I would guess because that’s who he understood Jesus to be.

Have you believed in Him? You must believe in Him!