New Beginnings
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We’ve begun a journey looking at people who encounter Jesus in the Gospel of John. Today, we’re going to be looking at a familiar passage, in fact it contains one of the most familiar verses in the entire Bible. We’re in Chapter 3 of the Gospel of John.
New Beginnings
New Beginnings
Our topic today is new beginnings. Let’s read the Gospel of John, Chapter 3.
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.”
Three “Truly, Truly’s” in this passage.
John 3:3
John 3:5
John 3:11
Let’s look at each of those closely this morning as it will directly impact our own understanding of this passage.
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
SEE the kingdom of God. There has to be a change in our focus for us to even see the Kingdom of God.
The challenge here is who is in charge of the change. We often think of ourselves being in charge, and that is one of the things that is interesting about the terms. I am not responsible for my birth. I am not the one who chose to be born, I am not the one that chose to be created. There has to be a renewal that is happening, and that is really what is being discussed in the conversation here.
Nicodemus, an educated man comes to Jesus in the evening, at a time when they would not be disturbed. This is an open conversation between a man of learning, a man that is not only a Pharisee, but a member of the ruling council of the Jews. In other words, he is a member of the Sanhedrin. He’s up there. He is one who should have understanding. It shows great humility and I believe a yearning in Nicodemus’ heart that he comes to Jesus in the night to have a conversation.
When Nicodemus arrives he refers to Jesus as Rabbi, which recognizes Jesus’ stature as teacher, and for a teacher of the Law (a Pharisee) and more than that as one of the Rulers of the Jews (a member of the Sanhedrin) to refer to Jesus as “Rabbi” is indeed high praise.
He talks to Jesus and says to him, “We know...” interesting, who’s the “we?” It doesn’t say, but we can infer that there were other Jewish leaders that recognized Jesus as “a teacher from God,” and then he points to the signs that he did.
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’s when Jesus answers him with this. Now we’re talking about being born of water and spirit, and not only to see the Kingdom of God, but to enter it.
What does he mean by “water and the Spirit?”
Water - there have been many views on this,
Some scholars have seen it as a nod to creation - we need to be born on earth and above by the spirit.
Others have seen it as the waters of baptism and the Spirit of God.
This idea of baptism is symbolic of cleansing as we read from Ezekiel these words in the Old Testament:
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 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. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
There is an idea of a change that takes place. There is a cleansing from the past, but the spirit is a leading into the future.
Finally, the third “Truly, Truly” at vs. 11
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.
These are some tough words to hear, these are words of correction, words of critique. These words could be said of all of us. In one way or another.
Jesus goes on to tell Nicodemus some things about himself, that he will be lifted up as the serpent was lifted up. v. 14, and that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
This is a foretelling of what would happen at the end of Jesus ministry as he would be lifted up on the cross.
Going on from there he closes with these words to Nicodemus:
“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.”
We don’t like people to point out where we need to grow. It’s part of our sinful nature. We don’t like people to point out our mistakes.
I’m convinced the reason that so many people would like to disprove that there is a God is that if there is exactly what I quoted Ravi Zacharias recently. I shared with you that an atheist he was conversing with posed the question, “If there is a God then why is there so much evil in the world?”
Ravi’s answer was, “You say there is evil, if there is evil there must be good. If there is evil and there is good, then there must be an objective morality by which to measure them. If there is an objective morality then there must be an objective morality giver. If there is no objective morality giver, then there is no objective morality. If there is no objective morality, then there is no good, and if there is no good then there is no evil.”
AT the same time they don’t want there to be a God because without a God then there is no morality and therefore they cannot be judged for what they choose to do.
“The light has come into the world, and people (that includes you and I) have loved the darkness rather than the light.”
This is why we have confession. You may have noticed that we skipped our prayer of confession this morning. We’re going to take some time to do that in the next few moments
Jesus invites us to be Born Again, to start anew, and to know deeply that God’s steadfast love never ceases and his mercies never come to an end. Each day is a new start. AMEN.