We are...Getting Some Things Straight, Pt. 3

“We Are” Message Three

Text: John 3:1-17

ETS: Jesus taught that man must be born again to enter the Kingdom of God.

ESS: We must be born from above in order to enter the Kingdom of God.

OSS: [MO: Evangelistic] {SO: I want the hearers to believe in Jesus and be born again.}

PQ: What lessons can we learn about the two people involved in today’s passage?

UW: Lessons

Intro.: The previous weeks we studied about the creation account of humans: God created them good; We then studied about the fall and disobedience of man with which sin and evil entered into the world (we studied the reason for, the result of, and the response to evil). However, understanding that since the fall all have been sinful, we concluded last time with the need to confess that. What needs to happen after that, though? Derek Kidner wrote, “After the fall, man is still said to be in God’s image (Gen. 9:6) and likeness (Jas 3:9); nonetheless he requires to be ‘renewed … after the image of him that created him’ (Col. 3:10; cf. Eph. 4:24). See also 5:1, 3.” (Kidner, 55) Thus, as Kidner as well as Scripture suggest, there is a need for man to be renewed- transformed, born again.

TS:Let us study together a few lessons we can learn from the two people involved in today’s Text:

Nicodemus is the first person involved.

Nico was religious (v. 1)

Nico came at night (v. 2a)

Nico respected Jesus (v. 2b)

Nico misunderstood his own need (vv. 4 and 9)

Jesus is the second person involved.

Jesus saw the spiritual need (v. 3)

Jesus explained the spiritual need (vv. 5-8)

Jesus offered to meet the spiritual need (v. 16)

Application:

One thing is certain: not much has changed. People are still religious. People are still in the dark and concerned with others’ opinions. People still “respect” Jesus. People still really misunderstand their own need.

Still, though, Jesus sees our spiritual need. Jesus explains our spiritual need. Jesus offers to meet our spiritual need. We need only to come to Him. We studied two weeks ago about our need to confess our sins and acknowledge Jesus as Lord (1 Jn. 1:9 and Rom. 10:9-13). After we do that, we are born again, and 2 Cor. 5:17 informs us that when we are in Christ, regenerated in Him, we are a new creation!