NIC AT NITE Part 1- John 3:1-20
INTRODUCTION:
In John 3, we are introduced to a man whose name only appears in John’s gospel. A man who was a truth seeker. A man who had a Ph. D in religion and Bible knowledge. A man whose encounter with Jesus transformed his life over time. He was not a hypocrite, but authentic. I have nothing but good to speak of in regard to this pharisee. For from my study, I can report that he wanted truth more than tradition, even if it rubbed his religion raw.
- This morning, I want to share THREE THINGS that JESUS wanted Nicodemus to know if we was to see and enter God’s Kingdom
I. JESUS WANTED NICODEMUS TO UNDERSTAND THE OF BEING AGAIN IF HE WANTED TO HIS TRUE INDENTITY.
1. Nicodemus claimed he and his peers knew that Jesus was special but not the anointed one.
In John 7, the second time Nicodemus shows up in the gospel, this time at a religious festival. Jesus goes into the temple and begins to teach, and people are being stirred up, some positively and others not so much. Some are thinking he just might be the promised one from God, but many others are thinking, no he is not the Messiah because we know where he is from, Jesus has come from-Galilee but when the anointed one comes, no one will know where he comes from. (John 7:25-27). During this festival the Pharisees had decided to arrest and even kill Jesus if he showed up and it’s in this context that Nic speaks up on Jesus defense; doesn’t he deserve a hearing before you act to arrest and kill him.
“Very true, no one can SEE the kingdom of God (the realm and rule of God) unless they are BORN AGAIN.” v.3
2. Jesus explains what being born again is all about.
3. Jesus expected Nicodemus to have understanding about the Holy Spirit’s role in transforming a person from a sinner to a saint.
“You are Israel’s teacher, and you don’t know what I’m talking about?”
- All throughout the Old Testament Scriptures of which Nicodemus would have been considered an expert are many references to the Holy’s Spirit’s role in a person’s salvation.
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Ezekiel 36:25-27
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Jerimiah 31:33
3. Religion can make us thirsty, but it can’t quench our thirst.
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. John 7:37-39
4. The Disciples also taught about the New Birth.
- The Apostle Peter opens his first letter affirming this truth:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” 1 Peter 1:3
- The Apostle Paul affirms this truth in his letter to Titus:
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7
5. Spiritual Transformation is a process: We begin to question what we understand about God. God puts people in our path that know the truth and begin to share it with us (Romans 10:17). We then begin to contemplate the truth. The Holy Spirit begins to convict us of our sin (missing the mark). He reveals to our spirit that our own goodness is insufficient to rescue of from our sin nature and then he convicts us that at the judgement of God we won’t stand a chance. (John 16: 7-11)
II. JESUS WANTED NICODEMUS TO KNOW THE OF HIS OVER THE TEACHINGS OF KEEPING.
1. God so loves “all people” and wants all people to know the way of Salvation.
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” Isa. 49:6
2. God sacrificed His beloved Son to pay for our sins.
..God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
- The Bronze serpent and the Cure for certain death. A picture of the humanity snake bitten in the Garden with Cobra venom in them. Jesus was hung on a tree to bring a permanent cure for sin All a person must do is look in faith to Christ.
3. Whosoever believes in him will never perish but receive (spiritual) eternal life: Faith in Christ v.12, 15, 16, 18
- (pisteuo) to have faith in,trust in or rely upon.
- Demons believe and tremble and they are not going to inherit the Kingdom of God.
Illustration:
III. JESUS WANTED NICODEMUS TO UNDERSTAND PEOPLE .
People perish, not because they are not chosen or part of the elect, but rather because they love the darkness. V. 17-20
“God is not willing that anyone perish but that all come to the knowledge of the truth.” 2 Peter 3:9
- People are condemned already because they are snake bitten and the evidence of unbelief and a lifestyle lived in the shadows.
CONLCUSION