Nic at Night (Or “A Power Verse”)

Intro

Here we are in October of 2025

But let’s rewind time and go back to October of the year 2000

Specifically, October 31, 2000

Here’s why that date is important to the story: It is my mom’s birthday

And in order to say “happy birthday” to my mom that day, I had to use my one phone call from jail

Because I had been arrested for stealing a Uhaul truck

Now, you may ask, “Why would anyone steal a Uhaul truck?”

25 years later and I still don’t know the answer to that question

It’s a long story but suffice it to say, it was a massive miss

I had not stolen a Uhaul truck, charges were dropped, I have a clean record

But I share that because I have never been as overwhelmed as I was for that 4 hours I was in jail

In the moment I thought, “Paul wrote a lot of his letters in the Bible from jail. I’m going to quote John 3:16 to myself”

“For… for… for…umm, for…”

For the life of me, I could not remember John 3:16, probably the first verse in the Bible I had memorized, and probably true for some of you as well

I have a friend who when he first read that verse called it “a power verse”

There is a reason that football players write it in their eyeblack, fans hold up signs at games with it and more

In one incredible verse, it captures the huge heart of God for the world

And, the moment I most needed it in jail, I couldn’t remember it at all…

Tonight we come to the context of that verse, the encounter of Nicodemus with Jesus

Or, since he came to see Jesus at night, I like to call him “Nic at Night”

Let’s read our passage from John 3:1-21

Scripture Reading: John 3:1-21

John 3:1–21 ESV

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Pray

About Nicodemus

Before we get into the core of this passage, who is Nicodemus?

John 3:1 “Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.”

Wouldn’t it have been easier for John to simply write, “There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus”?

Instead he says “there was a man”

Then gives us 3 pieces of information about this man

“Of the Pharisees”

The Pharisees were the religious leaders, exceptionally moral

In that place, in that time, they were well respected

Today, the idea of the Pharisees often carries a negative connotation because of the strong criticisms Jesus directed toward them

Jesus saw that the Pharisees were more concerned with following the letter of the law than possessing a heart of obedience

But to the first century Jew, these were the most religious, most moral people

“Named Nicodemus”

Nicodemus was a Greek name

So even though he was Jewish, he was known by a Greek name, suggesting he was well learned, upper-class

He was a scholar

“A ruler of the Jews”

That is, he was a member of the Sanhedrin, the governing body of the people

IOW: Nicodemus was an upper-class, well-educated Jew who was known for being both a religious leader and a political leader

From Teacher to Student

We often think about how one graduates from being a student to becoming a teacher

Evidenced by expressions such as “The student has become the master” or “The student has surpassed the teacher”

But here in John 3 we see the reverse as Nicodemus graduates from teacher to student

Why does this educated teacher suddenly become a student?

In verse 10, Jesus calls him “the teacher of Israel”

But with Jesus’ very first words, “you must be born again” shatter the illusion that he was the expert

He is immediately confront with a truth beyond his expertise forcing him out of the teacher’s chair and into the student’s

This is what happens when human wisdom meets divinity authority in the person of Jesus

John 3:2 “This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.””

Nicodemus approaches Jesus the way we might expect from a well-educated and respected guy - from a position of authority as the expert

“We know” even suggests that he was speaking on behalf of others in his upper class circles

But notice the shift just two verses later

John 3:4 “Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?””

Nicodemus moves from being the teacher in authority to the genuine question of a student

Or as he says in John 3:9, “How can these things be?””

Encountering Jesus transforms Nicodemus from the high and mighty teacher to a humble student

John 3:10 “Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?”

The teacher was himself in need of learning

Learning what?

The surprising sovereignty of the Spirit

The sufficient sacrifice of the Son

The steadfast love of the Father

The Surprising Sovereignty of the Spirit

Jesus makes a provocative statement to Nicodemus about being born a second time, born again

Nicodemus is reeling - he has no idea what to do with this

“Wait, uhh, hold on a sec. I am supposed to climb back in my mom’s womb and get born again? How exactly does that work?”

Let’s look again at verses 5-8

John 3:5–8 “Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.””

Two things to notice here:

“Born again”

The word translated here as “born again” occurs 5 times in the NT

Every other time it is translated as “from above”

John here is using a play on words where to be born again is to be born from above

To be born of the Spirit

It is with surprising sovereignty that the Spirit of God appoints those who are born from above

“The wind blows where it wishes”

And now we have a second play on words because the word for “wind” and for “Spirit” are the same word!

So just as the wind is not controllable and goes where it wishes, so the Spirit of God moves with surprising sovereignty wherever and however he so desires

You don’t know where the wind is coming from or where to

And we can never know - but always be amazed as a learn of the surprising sovereignty of the Spirit

The Sufficient Sacrifice of the Son

So the first thing that Nic at Night learns in his encounter with Jesus, and that we can learn from it is the surprising sovereignty of the Spirit

The second is the sufficient sacrifice of the Son

Let’s look again at verses 13-16

John 3:13–16 “No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Kinda strange illustration that Jesus uses here to our ears, but certainly the teacher of the Israelites, Nicodemus, would understand the reference

Back in Numbers 21, many Israelites were being bit by poisonous snakes as punishment for their disobedience against God

Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole

All the Israelites who looked at the bronze snake were saved

Here, Jesus is using this story to point toward his own death

Just as those under judgment were saved by looking at the bronze serpent lifted up on the pole, so also all who look to the cross in faith will be saved from the rightful punishment of their sin

Notice verse 16, God gave his only Son - Jesus - as a sacrifice for sins

But here is the best part - there is no conditional left other than to believe

Those who believe in Jesus not can be saved, should be saved, are likely to be saved

Those who believe in Jesus, who look to the cross in faith that Jesus’ death was for them, will not perish and will have eternal life

There is no conditional left because of the sufficient sacrifice of the Son

The Steadfast Love of the Father

Just as we have seen the surprising sovereignty of the Spirit and the sufficient sacrifice of the Son

Now we want to see the steadfast love of the Father

“For God so loved the world”

Those most famous of words

The steadfast love of the Father reveals the depth of his love for the world he created

God does not just love those who love him back

God does not just love the Christians

God does not even just love the people of the world

God loves the cosmos - the whole world

Just as at the end of each day of Creation in Genesis 1 God stopped, looked at what he had made, and called it good

So God promises that his love for the whole world will lead to the New Creation

That is the steadfast love of the Father

And how do we know the depth of this love? What is the ultimate proof?

That he gave his only Son

The steadfast love of the Father is revealed not as a vague affection, but in the specific, costly, sufficient sacrifice of Jesus

Call to Believe

It also, though, acts as a call for us to believe

Listen to the words of these verses again

John 3:15 “that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:17 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

The steadfast love of the Father has led him to give his only Son as the sufficient sacrifice for sin that he might one day usher in the New Creation

And the call to us is that if we believe, we will get to share in that New Creation, that new world, with God forever

Conclusion: From Nic at Night to Costly Discipleship

As we conclude, let’s fast forward to see what became of Nicodemus

This guy we call “Nic at Night” because he went to visit Jesus under the cover of night

What ever happened to him? We only hear about him two more times

Once at the end of chapter 7 of John

But then again in John 19

Jesus has been crucified and is limp, dead on the cross

John 19:39–42 “Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.”

Nicodemus, the one who to maintain some discretion and anonymity, went to Jesus under cover of the dark night, now is demonstrating a costly discipleship

I was curious, how much is 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes worth?

Estimates I found put the value as somewhere between $150k and $200k

This was extravagant, over the top worship

It’s a burial that would be fit only for a king… and, indeed, it was… King Jesus

For Nicodemus, discipleship - following after Jesus, became very costly

But costly not just in the money he spent for those burial spices

Let’s go back to what we first learned about Nicodemus

“Of the Pharisees” - respected as a religious leader

“Nicodemus” - educated, upper class Jew who went by his Greek name

“Ruler of the Jews” - part of the governing body

Following Jesus cost Nicodemus not only his money, but also his prestige, his position, and his power

But costly discipleship was absolutely worth it to Nicodemus when he came to believe in:

The surprising sovereignty of the Spirit

The sufficient sacrifice of the Son and

The steadfast love of the Father

Because as he believed in that, he gained something worth far more: eternal life!

So let me ask this: What would costly discipleship look like for you?

What would it cost you to follow after Jesus like Nicodemus did here?

What is God calling you to give extravagantly?

Where is God calling you to risk reputation to honor Jesus?

Who is God calling you to invite to church where they too can come to believe in Jesus?

Because when you believe in Jesus and follow him, you will find eternal life in the love of the Father forever!

Pray