Lord We Need You: Salvation

Introduction

Last week we talked about the fact that we need God for peace. We need Him for everything really as we walk in this life. We need Him for grace, mercy, guidance, prayer, deliverance, strength, forgiveness, but ultimately we need Him for salvation. Scripture says that nobody is righteous no not one. The reason for Jesus’ coming was because we couldn’t save ourselves. If we had the choice in our spiritual blindness to choose the world or God we would choose the world 10 times out of 10. Those who are not in Christ are spiritually blind and they need a Savior. We need a savior. We can’t do it on our own. We need God for salvation because without Him we are blind men and women leading the blind. We cannot see what God has for us. We need the Holy Spirit to show us that Jesus is who He says He is. Tonight we are going to look at a really unique story in Scripture that teaches us about our need for Christ as our Savior. Not just our sidekick, our buddy, but our Savior.

Nicodemus was scared to be seen with Jesus

Jesus at this point had started making a big stir within the Jewish community especially with His miracles He was performing and the things He was saying to the Pharisees up to this point. He had just performed the wedding miracle AND eluded to the destruction of the physical temple to the Pharisees (Big No No) and the establishment of the bodily temple of those filled with the Holy Spirit. Pharisees are mad, people are intrigued, and Nicodemus needs answers.

Nicodemus is THE teacher of Israel and he is one of the spiritual leaders of the Sanhedrin (Spiritual Council) of Israel. He knows that meeting with Jesus could throw up some huge red flags that could get him killed if He is seen conversing with Him in private or asking Him anything spiritual. So he decides to meet Jesus at night. He does this to keep His actions concealed because he is curious because of the miracles Jesus is performing and things He is saying so Nicodemus decides to meet Jesus.

Jesus rocks Nicodemus’ world

Jesus tells Nicodemus that “you must be born again if you want to see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus was under the impression that just because someone was a Jew meant that they had been born into the family of God. If you were a Jew you were of God because of your birth position. Jesus was telling Nicodemus that that wasn’t the case. Jesus said there was a second birth that had to take place in order to even be able to see the kingdom of God. Jesus plainly stated to him “Just because you are Israel doesn’t mean you are God’s people.” God was establishing a new covenant with people that He would give the Holy Spirit, that would be eternally saved and cleansed through the blood of Christ.

Nicodemus took Jesus literally in what He said and he was sorely mistaken. Jesus was not talking about another physical birth but a different birth. One that comes “from above” and is given by God. Nicodemus isn’t understanding what Jesus is saying because Jesus is talking about something that the Pharisees have misunderstood. That’s why they condemn Jesus.

Jesus states that you must be born of “water and the Spirit”. This was a connection to Old Testament Scripture that speak of water and the spirit together to imply a spiritual rebirth and a cleansing of a group of people or a person or a place like Ezekiel 36:24-27 that says “For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them”

Jesus exposes Nicodemus’ dead Spirit

Nicodemus had not accepted Jesus and His testimony and words yet and Jesus exposes that. The Pharisees would not accept the John the Baptist and the baptisms that He was doing to prepare people in repentance in preparation for the Messiah to come. The Pharisees didn’t like either of them and rejected the repentance and preparation for Jesus’ coming. They were trying to protect their religion and the Law but Jesus came to fulfill it and establish the covenant of grace with His people. Jesus was establishing something new and exposing the flaw in the human heart and our leaning towards unrighteousness and sin. Jesus knew the only way to raise a dead man spiritually was through His death and resurrection.

In verses 14-15 Jesus eludes to the story in Numbers 21 where the people of Israel were bit by the serpents and were dying. When Jesus alludes to this it has to puzzle Nicodemus because He is telling him that if you do not look upon and believe in Jesus then you are dying and will perish. Jewish tradition and Pharisees believed that they were okay. That they were secure in their good works and they believed God’s favor was on them because of all that THEY were doing. But they could not do anything on their own to make it to God or to please Him. We all need Jesus is what He is saying and in that Jesus is calling Himself God which is punishable by death according to the Law.

Application

Being religious doesn’t make you a Christian: This passage is clearly showing that we cannot make it to God with our good works. Our works do not qualify us for God’s love. In fact if anything they disqualify us from being able to have God’s love and His favor. Jesus’ illustration of the serpent being lifted up in the wilderness for salvation and the Son of God being lifted up for salvation shows that all our good works gets us is a life of spiritually perishing. Jesus is clearly telling us that our only ground to stand on in salvation from our sins and redemption to God and right standing with Him is through Jesus Christ. You do not want to cling to your good works as your way to live in peace with God but you want to cling to Christ in order to live in peace and freedom with God.

The love God has for us is shown and given to us only through Jesus Christ: John 3:16-17 tells us that God showed His love for us by sending His only Son to die for us that we may have eternal life. God has provided a way for you to have salvation. He has provided a way to have your sins forgiven now and forever. He has provided Jesus as the sacrifice for you to live a life at peace with Him and for Him. God did not send His Son to condemn you but to save you. All you have to do is put your faith and trust in Christ and He will save you.

If you haven’t surrendered your life to Christ, do it tonight.