The Heart of the Matter

English Standard Version Chapter 2

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

You Must Be Born Again

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 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.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 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?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 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.”

9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 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. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

For God So Loved the World

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. 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. 18 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. 19 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. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 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.”

Did you ever wish when you are talking someone that you really knew what that person was thinking? You feel like there is more being unsaid than there is being said?

You wish you could look into the heart and figure out what this person really means

When Heidi’s folks came to visit us in Mozambique, we decided to take a trip to the beach, about a 2.5 hour drive east of us. We were loaded to the gills with bags, coolers, food, etc.

In order to get to the main east/west road out to the coast, I decided to take a route through the city which usually didn’t have traffic cops on them. Transitos, they were called.

Well, wouldn’t you know it, this morning there were two of them working this side street.

The one guy waves me over to the side and I roll down the window and he starts chatting. Where are you going? Who are all these people? etc.

I was driving using an international drivers license which didn’t set well with most traffic cops because I was supposed to work on getting my Mozambican drivers license. Which was a huge pain.

Well of course, he had issues with this but didn’t seem inclined to make too much of an issue about it.

He did, however ask me for a refresco. Which is the word for drink. Just so happened that we had a cooler full of cokes with us. I said, “Sure, you can have a coke. We have some right here. And BTW, take one for your colleague up there.”

We went around like this for a bit, but it just seemed like there was something else on his mind that I wasn’t understanding or getting.

Finally he leaned close and said, “No, what you don’t understand is when i ask you for a refresco, I’m asking you for some money.” A bribe was what he wanted.

Well, at least he was honest. Cops like him weren’t supposed to ask for bribes. It was against the law, although pretty much the wheels of society were often greased with little gifts and refrescos.

But at least he told me what was really in his heart.

Two weeks ago week we watched a video based on . I would invite you to turn there again.

The story of Jesus and Nicodemus is a famous one. I would dare say that most of us have memorized at least verses 1-16 and probably many of us have memorized more than that.

I don’t know how it is for you, but for me, verse 16 is always the pinnacle of this passage…the only thing that I focus on. The only thing that makes a little bit of sense.

Because the rest of the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus seems a little bit disjointed. Nicodemus is making comments and asking questions but I can’t figure out why Jesus answers Nicodemus like he does.

Does anyone here feel a little bit like me? Like you just can’t quite make sense of this chapter?

For example, to start out, Nicodemus seemingly just lobs a statement at Jesus “Hey, it seems like you are sent from God because of the things that you do.”

Kind of like the softball questions lobbed by reporters to coaches and players after the big game.

“Coach, your defense really stepped it up in the second half and your team was able to pull off the win”.

“Yeah, they did and yeah we did. Great observation”

I think that’s what the coach should say.

But they always oblige. “Oh that must be a question”. So they think of something and start to ramble.

And Jesus takes it and runs with it. I would have said, “Yes I am. Next question?”

And that’s kind of how I have always viewed . Nicodemus makes a statement, kind of like lobbing an observation toward Jesus and then waiting to see how Jesus will respond.

But Jesus’ response just doesn’t seem to line up with what Nicodemus is saying.

I think perhaps the key to understanding what is going on here is to go back to what happened before.

Again, there is nothing magical about chapter and verse divisions. Don’t be afraid to ignore them or attempt to read the bible imagining that they aren’t there. Originally, this was a single connected narrative.

So I want to read this morning actually starting in Chapter 2 verse 23

PRAY

New Living Translation (NLT)

Jesus and Nicodemus

23 Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him. 24 But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew all about people. 25 No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart.

3 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”

3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again,[a] you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”

5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.[b] 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.[c] 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You[d] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”

9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.

10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? 11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. 12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man[e] has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.[f]

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave[g] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.[h]”

English Standard Version Chapter 3

For God So Loved the World

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. 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. 18 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. 19 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. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 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.”

If we remember, the last time I spoke, we looked at the actions of Jesus when He went into the Temple.

This morning I want to ask you a question:

He was grieved at what had come into the temple and how it was being used.

What is your relationship with God based on? Is it based on

And he said, “Get these things out of here!

And my challenge to us was to rid ourselves of things that are in the temple that are keeping us from true worship.

Unbelief and condemnation

And the Jews (the Jewish leaders) were indignant. Basically saying, “How dare you do this? What authority do you have to do what you just did? Show us a sign !”

Belief and justification

We know Jesus’ response. “Destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days”, speaking of his body.

And this baffled the Jewish leaders.

Now you might be thinking, what kind of a question is that? Of course I believe! I’m here in church aren’t I? I asked Jesus into my heart, didn’t I?

Then we read in verse 23 that many believed on His name because of the signs that he was doing. But Jesus remained cautious around them because He knew what was actually going on in their hearts. He did not need anyone to tell him about man because He himself knew what was in man

This is the key to understanding what comes next. Chapter 3

He knew what was in the heart of man. When Nicodemus came to talk with Jesus, Jesus knew what was in his heart. And what was (and still is) in the heart of man?

What is in your heart?

When you come to Jesus to talk to Him, what really is in your heart? What really are you searching for?

See, I have to ask you this question and we have to ask each other this question because we don’t know. We may suspect that we know what’s in each other’s hearts, but we don’t know exactly until it is expressed in some way either through word or action.

But our hearts have all kinds of things in them:

There are things that we aren’t even aware of.

The heart is a deep and complex place. There are layers of emotion and layers of experience and feeling that define how our heart looks and feels

And some of us rarely scratch below the surface of our hearts to get to what is really deep and hasn’t seen the light of day for many years.

These could be wonderful and rich things, but they could also be painful and hard things

These are things that the Holy Spirit needs to reveal to us

There are things that we are well aware of and would rather just keep them hidden

Many of us know that we have things in our hearts that haven’t seen the light of day and we can identify those things

many of these things we see as being ugly and we think that to expose these things would be a blight on our character and would make people think differently of us.

There are things in our hearts that we simply don’t know how to express

We know what these things are but whether for the good or the bad we just don’t know how to express these things to people

We don’t know the right words

We don’t know if people really care.

And when we come to Jesus by night, when it ‘s just us and Him, all of these things in our hearts sort of define how we approach Him.

“Dear Jesus, thank you for this day. Please help me to have a good day and get all the things done that need to be done. Amen.”

“Lord help me!” And that’s all

Or maybe you are in tune with all the things in your heart and you are able to express them to him.

However it is for you, Jesus knows what is in your heart.

And He will respond according to what is in your heart because Jesus wants to get to the heart of the matter.

What the Jews wanted and what we still want today is “experience”. We want to be wowed by the experience of knowing Jesus. We want to see signs. We want to see Him doing things and proving to us over and over again that He is who He says He is.

It makes us feel good. Wow, God, cool! Do it again!

And I’m so thankful that God reveals Himself by His might acts. By doing things that we can point to and say, “That was all God. What an awesome God we serve!”

But as we see in this portion of John’s Gospel, Jesus, however, places his priorities on something else.

Nicodemus is one of those who seems to be “wowed” by the signs of Jesus

A little bit about Nicodemus

Probably quite a bit older than Jesus

Because He is a Pharisee

And Because we learn later in chapter 7 that he is a member of the Sanhedrin which is like the supreme court.

They are the highest judicial and governing body that the Jews have

You didn’t become a Pharisee or a member of the Sanhedrin by being a dummy.

But even the smartest of guys can totally miss the point about Jesus. And Nicodemus does miss the point.

Because the Pharisees and certainly the Sanhedrin were all about The Law. They were concerned with people following the letter of the Law and many times going “above and beyond the Law” to prove their righteousness.

But they certainly weren’t above seeing God do miracles. They knew their OT well and knew that God displayed His power and revealed Himself in might acts.

He comes and says, Rabbi (a term of great respect) you must be from God because no one could do the signs that you do unless God were with him.

But Jesus enters into a discussion with him that he didn’t expect.

It is an earnest discussion. Truly Truly 3 x, verses 3, 5, 11

Because Jesus is so earnest and adamant in this discussion, we do well to pay attention to what He is saying.

This is something that we absolutely cannot miss!

Jesus says, “Great observation. Yes, I have been sent from God and God is with me.

Now let me tell you what the heart of the matter is. You are interested in the signs that I do, but I see into your heart. And what you are really desiring is the Kingdom of God”

What I am really pointing you to by the signs that I do is the Kingdom of God.

What is the Kingdom of God? This is the first time that John mentions this.

The Kingdom of God is the rule of God in the hearts of man and in the world.

Jesus says, “You think that the signs that I do are the point and you want more of that. But I’m telling you the truth. What you are really looking for is the Kingdom of God. You are looking for the rule of God in your heart.

But entering that Kingdom is not accomplished through ritual as you have done all your life. It is not done through watching me do signs. It is only accomplished through a work of inner transformation!

And then as Nicodemus asks questions, Jesus begins to give him some pictures of what this work of the Holy Spirit looks like

It is like a “rebirth”. Like being born again. Like starting your life all over again.

It is a rebirth. But just like a human birth, it doesn’t start or stop at that birth.

There is something that happens that makes a baby start to grow and develop in the womb.

Then there is the wonderful, miraculous event when the baby enters the world

But this isn’t the end. The baby grows and develops outside the womb and becomes a toddler, then a child, then a youth, then an adult

And this is what the work of the Spirit is like. There is a seed planted. The Spirit begins to work on a person’s heart.

Then there is a moment of rebirth. But that’s not the end.

The work of the Spirit continues to transform and mold that person through infancy, childhood, and maturity.

It’s a HEART work

That is confirmed in this next picture that Jesus gives Nic.

Because after this first metaphor, Nic is still puzzled. “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he craw back into this mother’s womb and then be born again?”

And Jesus answers him again, stating it earnestly and directly and then even explaining it.

You have to be born of water and of the Spirit. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

People have puzzled over this saying, “Well He must be talking about baptism here”.

But if that’s what He is talking about then He must be saying that in order to be saved or born again, baptism is required. And if you die without being baptized, then you will never see the Kingdom of God

In the OT, water is used as a symbol of inner cleansing.

For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children. 4 They will thrive like watered grass, like willows on a riverbank. 5 Some will proudly claim, ‘I belong to the Lord.’ Others will say, ‘I am a descendant of Jacob.’ Some will write the Lord’s name on their hands and will take the name of Israel as their own.”

So Jesus is saying that this work of Spiritual cleansing.

The ritual cleansing that Nic would have been used to was not adequate. It did not make him suitable to enter or to see the Kingdom of God.

He needed purity of heart.

Who may climb the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? 4 Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies. 5 They will receive the Lord’s blessing and have a right relationship with God their savior. 6 Such people may seek you and worship in your presence, O God of Jacob.[a]

“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God”.

It is nothing that can be explained by man. But rather it is like the wind. Again, this not something that Nic expected.

Remember, he was a Pharisee. He was used to being the judge of whether or not somebody was part of the Kingdom.

You could tell.

Did they sacrifice?

Observe the feasts?

Do ritual cleansings?

Did they follow the law to the T?

It is powerful

It is unpredictable

It’s not like following the Law like you Pharisees do so carefully where man can judge whether or not you are doing it properly and measure how well you are doing it.

It is a work of faith. “I am telling you of heavenly things. I have come from heaven and am bringing you a heavenly message”

Jesus says, “I have been teaching you about earthly things, but now I am trying to teach you of heavenly things. You haven’t believed me when I talked of earthly things and I’m not surprised now that you aren’t believing when I talk of heavenly things.

The reason is that speaking of heavenly things requires a good deal of faith because no one has ever been there and come back to earth except the Son of Man.