SF009 - Christ and Nicodemus Part 2 of 2 (John 3 9-21)
Christ and Nicodemus - Part 2 of 2
November 4, 2001
John 3:9-21
Introduction
In our previous study we examined how Nicodemus represented lost mankind. Jesus’ response to Nicodemus and indeed to all men is “you must be born again.”
Today we take up the story of Nicodemus and Christ. The emphasis of today’s lesson is on the new birth and what it means.
1A. The Mystery of the New Birth (3:9-13)
1B. The truth of the new birth is concealed.
Nicodemus illustrates the spiritual ignorance of unregenerate man. (3:9)
Proverbs 4:19 “The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know over what they stumble.”
Ephesians 4:18 “being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart”
Jesus points out the fact that education is not the answer to man’s spiritual ignorance. (3:10)
1 Corinthians 1:23 “but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,”
Ø The new birth is not simply a matter of knowing and believing certain facts about Jesus.
James 2:19 “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.”
Knowing and believe correct doctrine is important but the new birth involves more that knowing some facts about Jesus.
2B. The truth of the new birth is revealed. (3:11-13)
The things of God must be received by faith. (3:11)
Hebrews 11:1-3, 6 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
Growth in the knowledge of God comes through obedience to the word of God. (3:12)
“God will not reveal to us a higher truth until we have thoroughly apprehended the simpler ones first. As we turn to God’s Word, let our dominant motive be that we may learn God’s mind for us in order that we may do it, not that we may become wise in recondite problems.”[1]
Only Jesus is qualified to reveal heavenly things. (3:13)
Ø Because of His uniqueness, He alone has ascended into heaven.
Ø Because of His Deity, He alone descended from heaven. In Christ, God became flesh.
2A. The Message of the New Birth (3:14-15)
To illustrate the character, the meaning, and the purpose of His death the Lord refers to Moses raising of the brass serpent in Numbers 21. Notice the parallels.
1B. The Lord’s salvation demonstrated.
The serpent being lifted up points to Christ being lifted up on the cross. In so doing He was made a curse for us. It is a picture of the atonement.
Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-- for it is written, ‘CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE’”
2B. The Lord’s salvation experienced.
God’s grace is not experienced as a result of man’s efforts.
Notice the instruction God gave the Israelites.
Ø God did not instruct them to make some kind of medicine for their wounds.
Many today rub the salve of manmade religion on the wound of sin to no avail.
Ø God did not instruct them to minister to others who were wounded in order to get relief for themselves.
Many today try to relieve their guilty conscious by giving to charity.
Ø God did not instruct them to fight the serpents.
All the crusades against abortion, pornography, and vice have not improved society any, nor have they brought one single sinner one step nearer to Christ.
Ø God did not instruct them to make an offering to the serpent on the pole.
God does not ask the sinner to give anything, but to receive His Christ.
Ø God did not instruct them to pray to the serpent.
“Prayer is a good thing, but prayer is for believers only. Man cannot pray for his own salvation. Christ died for sinners. This salvation is to be believed (Romans 10:9-10).”[2]
Do not make the mistake of substituting prayer for faith in Christ.
Ø God did not instruct them to look to Moses.
The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Titus 3:5 “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit”
Ø God did not instruct them to look at their wounds.
The focus is not to be on our sin but on the Savior.
Ø God did instruct them to look and live!
The Lord’s salvation is experienced as a result of God’s grace.
Ø Just as the bitten Israelites were healed by a look of faith, so the sinner may be saved by looking to Christ in faith.
“It is not on account of our faith that God saves us, but is through the means of our faith. It is in believing we are saved.”[3]
Ø The Christian life begins by looking.
Isaiah 45:22 “Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”
Ø The Christian life continues by looking
Hebrews 12:2 “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
3A. The Motive for the New Birth (3:16)
1B. God’s love demonstrated.
“The Atonement was not the cause, but the effect, of God’s love.”[4]
1 John 4:9-10 “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
2B. God’s love described.
The tense of God’s love – “God so loved”
Ø The verb is past tense.
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
The manner of God’s love – “God so loved”
Ø The "so" here does not mean an amount of love but a way of loving.
And we know that this giving was a giving up to rejection and death. "He came to his own and his own received him not" (1:11). Instead they killed him. And Jesus said of all this, "I glorified you (Father) on the earth, having accomplished the work which you gave me to do. (John 17:4)" So when the Father gave his only begotten Son, he gave him to die.
The scope of God’s love – “God so loved the world”
Ø God’s love is not limited to one region or race but extends to sinners of every nation (Revelation 5:9).
The nature of God’s love – “He gave”
Ø It is a giving, unselfish love that seeks the highest interest of others.
The character of God’s love – “He gave His only begotten Son”
Ø God gave the best that could be given, He gave Christ.
The design of God’s love – “That whoever believes on Him shall not perish”
Ø Although men are perishing in sin, God has purposed to have a people who would believe and not perish.
The benefit of God’s love – “But have eternal life”
Ø This is what God gives to each of His children.
1 John 3:1 “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.”
4A. The Manifestation of the New Birth (3:17-21)
1B. God’s purpose fulfilled. (3:17-18a)
It is God’s purpose to save sinners through His Son. (3:17)
1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit”
Galatians 4:5 “so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”
Titus 2:14 “who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
Christ was condemned in our place. (3:18a)
Romans 8:1 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
2B. God’s justice proven. (3:18b-20)
Men are condemned because of their unbelief. (3:18b)
Ø They reject Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Men are condemned because they love sin. (3:19)
Ø The truth is men prefer sin to God’s law.
Men are condemned because they hate the light. (3:20)
Ø Not only do men love sin they hate the things of God and God himself.
3B. God’s people revealed. (3:21)
Those who love the light will live in the light and will manifest God’s working in their lives.
Application
What the Bible teaches us about the new birth.
1. Man must repent and believe in order to be saved. (Acts 16:30-31)
2. Every one who repents and believes the gospel will be saved. (John 6:37)
3. Man must personally, knowingly, and willingly repent of his sin and place his faith in Christ. (Luke 13:3).
4. Man in his natural lost condition will not and indeed cannot repent and believe. (1 Corinthians 2:14)
5. God in His grace must change man through regeneration before man can and will repent and believe. (Titus 3:4-7)
6. Faith and repentance are the evidences not the cause of regeneration. (John 3:3; Acts 16:14)
Preparing for Next Week
1. What does the “much water” teach? (3:23)
2. What was the real purpose of the Jews in coming to John and saying what is recorded in 3:26?
3. What is the meaning of what John says in 3:27?
4. What important lesson fro the Christian is taught in 3:29?
5. What is the meaning of 3:33?
6. What is meant by the last half of 3:34?
7. How does 3:35 bring out the Deity of Christ?
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[1] Pink, Arthur W., Exposition of the Gospel of John, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975), 125, 127.
[2] Boice, James M., The Gospel of John, Volume 1, The Coming of the Light, John 1-4, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1985), 224.
[3] Pink, 133.
[4] Pink, 136.