Sermon Tone Analysis

/" Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council.

He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, *we know* you are a teacher who has come from God.

For *no one could perfor*m the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, *no one can see* the kingdom of God unless he is born again.

” “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked.

“Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”

Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, *no one can enter* the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

*You should not be surprised* at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’

The wind blows wherever it pleases.

You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.

So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

“How can this be?”

Nicodemus asked.

“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?

I tell you the truth, we *speak of what we know*, and we *testify to what we have seen*, but still you people do not accept our testimony.

I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?

No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

(John 3:1-17, NIV) /

**[1]**

This is perhaps one of the most remembered and well known biblical encounters that the Christian community has ever shared together.

We read the term “born again” for the first time in the pages of scripture.

This term has become the most accepted and preferred descriptive adjective that we attach the idea of relationship with God.

Over used or not, it says something very meaningful to people who look for authentic Christianity.

It contains the central theme and focus of the gospel in the verse that every person in this room today should be able to recite without hesitation.

“For God so loved . .

.”

* *

And it gives us an unforgettable character.

His name of course was Nicodemus.

We are not sure how to feel about him at least I’m not.

Let’s look at the encounter in the scriptures.

*1.

**His Approach – (v.

2)*

 

/“Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council.

He came to Jesus at night . .

.”/

Ø      /He came to Jesus by night/

 

Perhaps he was unforgettable because there have been times when we all have discovered ourselves to be more like him than we imagine.

We have all looked for less conspicuous ways to come to him and less obvious ways of serving him.

We have all shuddered at times at the thought of discovery.

It shouldn’t be that way but somewhere in the long forgotten past or the all too recent present we have sought the faith concealing shadows because for some reason our faith would have disadvantaged us . . .

we have feared.

You know the times when we are faced with the awful sense of defeat that overwhelms us when somehow we deny Him by saying less than we should say or saying nothing at all.

There are those of us today who find ourselves part of organizations that seem opposed to the premise of biblical faith and within those systems we struggle in our hearts to find a way to please Him and to feed our families and hold our homes together.

Nicodemus was a part of a proud, established, puritanical, legalistic, formalized group of men who determined what was acceptable and what was heretical.

Jesus was a threat to all that their traditions had established and yet he was impossible to ignore.

They could not deny that there was something different about this carpenter’s son, the people’s rabbi from Nazareth of all places.

They could never have admitted to each other that there was most likely a deep admiration for his deeds and his demeanor and the effectiveness of his teachings.

Some though like Nicodemus were driven to seek him out, to draw closer to this dangerous man.

Even though he sought Jesus at night in secrecy, he risked everything that he had accomplished if he were discovered and he came to Christ with partial knowledge and in fear and trembling.

*2.

**His Admission – (v.2)*

 

/“Rabbi, *we know* you are a teacher who has come from God.

For *no one could perfor*m the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”/

Ø      /It was partial at best./

He spoke for himself but found it easier to do by representing his group, the San Hedrin.

It’s always easier to speak for a group than it is to represent your faith or your position in the first person.

He said, “We know . .

.”.

When you speak of your faith today do you talk of your own relationship with God or your church.

It’s good to speak well of your church and we must if we want to see it grow but it’s powerful when people speak of their own relationship with God and are able to distinguish it from their relationship with a church.

It will be nurtured and developed in the context of the fellowship of a local church but faith must be personally possessed if it is to be powerful and impacting.

Nicodemus validates his conclusions by citing the miracles that Christ was performing.

He said, “We know that you are a:

 

q     *Teacher*

 

q     That you come *from God*

 

q     That God is *with you*

 

Nice things to say but not enough when it came to Christ.

Jesus responded to his incomplete statements and in verse 3 we see . . .

.

*3.  **His Assessment – (v.

3)*

/ /

/“I tell you the truth, *no one can see* the kingdom of God unless he is born again.

”/

 

Ø      /Jesus challenged his words./

Nicodemus made his observations about Jesus from what he could see or what he had learned of his ministry.

Most likely he was impacted because he had observed first hand the things that Jesus did.

But what can a man say about the dwelling place of God, the kingdom of God unless he can see and understand that kingdom as well.

Remember the words that concluded the previous chapter?

/"He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man."

(John 2:25, NIV) /

[2]

 

He didn’t need Nicodemus’ endorsement.

He didn’t need the stamp of approval of the governing religious body that he represented.

He wouldn’t need it today either.

He doesn’t need for the most prestigious of colleges or universities to vouch for his credibility.

We need it ourselves in varying degrees to tell other people that someone believes us to be capable, reputable, trustworthy, whatever but not Jesus.

He never seemed to seek respectability as a credential.

He just did his thing.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we lived in a world where we sought to be effective and we were willing to let our work speak for us.

You know if God can help us to become:

 

q     a church where He works freely and mightily,

 

q     a church where people are transformed and truly delivered from the bondages of life

 

q     a church where the power of God’s presence is experienced more than it is talked about

 

q     a church where people dare to become dispensers of abundant grace in the name of grace incarnate

 

q     a church where a people of prayer inhabit a house of prayer

 

Then what we are will speak for itself and what we are will become the greatest reason that people come and seek God’s help in their lives.

We won’t have to worry about creating an image when we represent the true substance of faith.

Jesus didn’t need anything that Nicodemus offered him.

He did not need to know that the religious governing body of the people  placed some seal of approval on Him.

He knew who He was and that was enough.

I think that he was simply asking Nicodemus what he would possibly know of the kingdom of God because seeing is believing, in the spiritual realm.

You can’t see unless you believe.

You can’t see the kingdom of God unless you are born again.

There are many unsaved people in the world today who justly criticize people of faith who live low and loose.

They are a source of slander to the cause of Christ when rebellion or selfishness causes them to seek their own good ahead of God.

But there are others like you and me who sometimes falter and fail.