John 3

Who is Jesus to us?

Nicodemus saw that Jesus had power from God but didn’t call Him a prophet or Messiah. He came short of who Jesus really was.

Jesus tells Nicodemus what is necessary to have saving faith, what is necessary to live for God.

It easy for us to think if we just get the general idea, if we just try to “do” the right things that we can enter heaven.

In our world there are many who believe if you just do your best it doesn’t matter what religion you are or who you follow. They believe that there are many ways to get to heaven.

The Jews believed that all Jews get to heaven, so here is Jesus going directly against that.

He says that only the Spirit can do the work of saving us.

If someone like Nicodemus, who followed the law to a T. To be a Pharisee was to seek to be perfectly obedient to the law so that you could be found clean before God. He memorized Scripture, he would have taught it, he would fast, he would pray. Yet Jesus tells Him that none of this is enough to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Our sin goes so to the core that outside of the work of the Spirit, we are unable to be saved.

By saying that he must be born of the “water and spirit” He is telling Nicodemus that he must be cleansed and renewed by the Spirit. That it is a work that he can’t do on his own. That no matter how much he followed the law, no matter how “great” you are, that you must be born again and that all of us are sinners.

What does it mean to be born again?

Even Nicodemus, a man who knew the whole Old Testament was confused when Jesus said this.

But part of Jesus point is that he shouldn’t be confused. He tells him, “do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘it is necessary for you to be born from above’”

He says this because the Old Testament tells us that He would give His people “a new heart”.

But how do we “know” that we are born again?

Even when Jesus explains it Nicodemus is confused and again Jesus rebukes Him because everything He has said are from the Scriptures.

Jesus uses the analogy of the wind. You can’t see it and you can’t control it and you don’t know where it comes from yet you know that it is there.

In the same way the Spirit can’t be controlled nor will we ever fully understand the Spirit but we can see it’s effects in our life, it is undeniable and unmistakable.

Have you ever seen an area where a tornado has gone through? The path of a tornado is very clear, you can see exactly the path that it went on and the damage that occurred from it.

In the same way in our lives we can see the moment that the Spirit started working in our lives and changed our life.

Being born again is about accepting the testimony of who Christ is.

Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet, many who don’t even believe in God still believe Jesus was a great philosopher who we can learn from and even try to use Jesus against Christians! Many more claim to know Jesus. But far fewer accept the testimony given to us in Scripture. We must believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

In fact many believe that they can follow God without obeying the Bible. But Jesus says, if you can’t accept what it means that I am the Messiah, and you can’t accept the truth in God’s Word, how are you going to obey the things relating to new life? How are you going to be able to understand the incredible blessings that will be there for us in heaven? How can you believe heavenly things if you don’t believe the testimony of the only one who has been in heaven and on earth.

New life only comes through Jesus

Jesus uses the story of Moses and the snake to describe himself.

If you don’t know this story. The people sinned against God with their grumbling about manna. So God sent snakes that bit the people and poisoned them. The only way for them to be healed was if they looked at the snake on the pole.

In the same way the only way for us to be saved eternally is for us to look at the cross that Jesus died on. To look at the price Jesus paid, to see the love of the Father in sending His son. That is the only way to have eternal life. None of us are able to receive eternal life outside of the love of God.

But it is so much easier for us to live in the darkness than to enjoy the light. (Show Star Wars clip)

The darkness is where we think we can get away with things. It is where we go to stay hidden. Darkness allows us to believe that we aren’t seen. But the light will one day expose everything in the darkness. It will expose all of our sins, the ones that we are most embarrassed and ashamed of. Many will say they are in the light but still live in the darkness. Many will hear Jesus’ words but they will live apart from Him.

Those who don’t believe will be condemned, they will live separated from God eternally.

We must be willing to live in the light, we must be willing to practice truth. We must enjoy living in the light. But that is hard because in the light everyone will see us, in the light we will be tried and tested.