John | Chapter 3

b. 2:12-4:54 New hope

John 3:1-10

“You must be born again”

I. Intro.

II. Vs. 1-2 Nicodemus: religious, rich, and ruler

III. Vs. 3-8 Born again

IV. Vs. 9-10 How can these things be?


Intro.

The “New Birth” is the theme for the 3rd chapter of John and ought to be the theme of our lives. Well known British evangelist George Whitefield wrote a letter 1700’s to inventor and statesman Benjamin Franklin with just such a request writing, “I find that you grow more and more famous in the learned world. As you have made such progress in investigating the mysteries of electricity, I humbly urge you to give diligent heed to the mystery of the “new birth”. Everyone today is familiar with the term “born again”, it has become so popular that it is used for all kinds of situations that have nothing to do with the way the New Testament uses it. If a football team has a bad season and the next year comes to life again and does much better, the sports writers say it has been born again. If all this happened in line with the New Testament view of that term it would be very encouraging. How glorious it would be if whole football teams and other movements truly experienced what Jesus speaks of here to Nicodemus.


Vs. 1-2 Nicodemus: religious, rich, and ruler

Vs. 1-2 The phrase “there was a man” is placed in contrast to the men mentioned in 2:23-25, here was a man named Nicodemus to whom Jesus could commit too. Three words come to mind in describing Nicodemus: religious, rich, and ruler but put yourself in Nicodemus’ sandals, he didn’t know he was talking with the Son of God he had just heard and saw this thirty-year-old Carpenter and came with some questions. John mentions two things about Nicodemus:   

  1. Who he was: His name is a Greek name and means “victory of the people” and it only appears here in the gospel of John, (three times in the 3rd chapter once in the 7th chapter and then finally in the 19th chapter). Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, the council of seventy men who ran the religious affairs of the nation and who had religious authority over any Jew anywhere in the world. That council was almost entirely made up of Pharisees if ever there was a group, which could be called religious fanatics, it was the Pharisees. They were a select group (never more than 6,000 of them) who had taken a solemn oath before three witnesses that he would devote every moment of their lives to obeying the Ten Commandments, as a way of pleasing God. These men spent their lives studying the Ten Commandments and applying them to situations of life so that the Pharisees could carry out these commands and thus obey God. It is amazing that he would come to Jesus at all, because the Pharisees regarded themselves as superior to other men in spiritual status before God due to their total dedication to obeying the law of God. But this man came albeit at night but that can be explained as he would have been involved in the Passover and Jesus was surrounded by people so his coming at night was so that he could give proper attention to the investigation. Oh maybe his coming at night was a cautious inquiry but he came with others didn’t to investigate Jesus.  
  2. What he said: John tells us that he began his word with a courteous introduction. “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Before we look at the truth of Nicodemus’ statement  let’s first examine the words he uses:
    1. “Rabbi”: His calls Jesus “my teacher” the same word John and Andrew used in 1:38 even though Jesus had not gone to any recognized rabbinical schools. There were there degrees of words a person would use when saying Rabbi and this was the one in the middle. Still this is a huge declaration for a Pharisee to make; clearly he was impressed by Jesus words and actions.
    2. “We know”: It seems by this statement that Nicodemus was not the only person amongst the Pharisees that had been so impressed though he was the only one who dared to investigate.
    3. “You are a teacher come from God”: Again this is a most remarkable statement by Nicodemus as he was one of the religious elite and he was coming to an obscure peasant with no known formal education. In that one week of observation his experience through a hand fill of incidents Nicodemus breaks forth away from his presumptions and personal prejudices and at least entertains the possibility that this man from a fishing village has been sent by God to teach the nation.
    4. “For no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him”: The Greek text says “can go on doing” these signs. So Nicodemus was weighing Jesus as being a teacher from God not because some one time act but a continual string of words and works that had brought him by night to inquire more of Jesus. “These signs” to which John does not mention individually moved the crowd to recognize the possibility of Jesus being the Messiah but it did not move them to appropriate the truth to their lives.  It was for this reason that we were told that He did not trust His person to them because they hadn’t trusted their person to Him, (Jesus had no faith in their faith in Him). Or if you will their faith in His name didn’t led then to a decision to trust in. Ah but here we see that it had led Nicodemus to come by night to investigate further. In the Greek the phrase “you do unless God is with Him” is presented as a possibility not a definite act which is why Nicodemus had ventured out that night.         

But is Nicodemus’ statement correct? Not according to Paul who would warn the Thessalonians in 2 Thess 2:9 “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders”. It is for this reason that John had said in 2:22 that he and the rest of the disciples believed “the scripture and the Word which Jesus has said” as well as remembering psalm 69:9 concerning the cleansing of the temple. Hey saints it important that we believe not just signs but that we take those signs to the word of God as Jesus always placed the Word above the signs.


Vs. 3-8 Born again

Vs. 3 Notice how Jesus cuts right to the heart of Nicodemus by saying “Most Assuredly” or as some versions say “truly, truly.” It’s a phrase John records Jesus saying 25 times (and only used here in John). It was used when Jesus was about to say something extremely important and should not be missed. Nicodemus came to Jesus and said what so many say about Him today didn’t he, “You’re a great teacher”? In all my years I have never heard anyone deny that about Him but here we see Jesus response to someone who says that, “You must be born again”. Jesus didn’t answer Nicodemus saying, “Oh, you’re aware of My miracles and you’ve heard Me speak have you? Well just say I’m a good teacher and I’m fine with that!” But instead, Jesus cut through the flattery and drew Nicodemus’ attention to the kingdom of God. Jesus is saying that “new birth” is absolutely essential to enter the kingdom of God not a suggestion but a “MUST” (verse 7); you won’t leave to go home with out Him. The phrase “born again” has three meanings in the Greek:

  1. It means to do it a second time
  2. It also means to begin radically, completely, a new beginning
  3. It also means from above, thus it signifies God must do this

So saints we understand this word to include all three of those meanings. Being born again means that we have undergone a 2nd birth, that which was radical, a new beginning, which God has done not we ourselves. Jesus was referring to a transfer of citizenship, a radical departure from what we once were. 

It appears by Jesus words that He is addressing Nicodemus’ reasoning by speaking of a 2nd birth as the sole basis by which “God is with” someone. The Jewish identity as far as relationship with God was based upon being physically born a Jew which placed them into the kingdom of God but Jesus shatters this misconception by saying that it is not physical birth but spiritual birth that places a person into a relationship with the living God. The Jews didn’t look to the Messiah as the door into heaven as much as they saw Him as the way by which Israel would become permanently preeminent among all people. The words “can not see” in the Greek implies can not participate. The just of what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus is that, “It is not the signs that indicate God is with me, rather it is My relationship with my Father and unless a person is born a 2nd time (from above) they can not participate in God’s kingdom.”  

Vs. 4 Nicodemus doesn’t say “what or why” but “HOW”! What’s the process?  “How can a man be born when he is old?” Paul said in 1 Cor. 2:14 “the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” That is Nicodemus problem as the things of God and His kingdom are spiritually discerned and apart from the Spirit of God they will remain a mystery. Jesus said that to Simon-Peter in Matt. 16:17 upon his declaration of Jesus’ identity saying, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”

Now there are several O.T. passages that indicated a yet future work a “New Covenant” that God would do in Jer. 31:31-34 The Lord said “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah… this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Then in Jer. 32:39 we read of the further effects of this new covenant as being when God “will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them.” The Lord spoke through the prophet Ezek. in 11:19-20, 36:26 saying “Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.” From the prophets the Jews new three things about the New covenant:

  1. That it would be a time of regathering of God’s people Israel
  2. That it would be a time of the reign of the Messiah over the world
  3. That it would be a time of spiritual transformation for God’s people

It is to the third that Jesus address to Nicodemus and it is one that he didn’t grasp he was puzzled by Jesus words of the 2nd birth as he can only relate to it as natural birth through the womb.

Here was a fellow who was doing his best to obey what he thought God wanted, yet he had an empty and unsatisfied heart that led him to seek Jesus that night, at the risk of the displeasure of his peers, to talk with him about the kingdom of God. Jesus in effect says, “You’re wasting your time if you think you can enter the kingdom of God the way you are. You cannot do it. You must be born again.” Nicodemus misunderstood, he took the word “again” to mean only a second time. With a puzzled look on his face he said, “How can this be? How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Nicodemus is thinking gynecology isn’t he? “How am I going to get back into my mother’s womb and start life all over when I am already old and grey? How can I do that?” Many people think like that don’t they? “Oh, if I could just do it over again! If I knew then what I know now, and could go back and live it all over again, I think I could get it right!” Take the illustration of a baby in the womb whose life is tied to its mothers by the umbilical cord yet only 4 inches from where that baby is at is a world waiting for them full of color, scents, sounds tastes and textures there is no way they could imagine it. And so too with the person today apart from Jesus now they can’t imagine what awaits them just out side the womb of this world they need new birth.

Vs. 5 Here in these verses is Jesus reply to Nicodemus’ question, “How can a man be born when he is old?” “By water and by the Spirit,” is Jesus’ reply. “Nicodemus, listen to me; it would make no difference if you could go back into the womb a 2nd time as you would come out no better than you were the first time.” The question is what does Jesus mean by “born of water”? What ever Jesus’ point to Nicodemus it has to have been something that he would have known of and there are four possibilities put forth by and all have some merit to them:

  1. Physical birth: Since the baby comes forth from a watery sack people think that this is what Jesus is speaking of. And though it seems to fit the words of verse 6  “that which is born of the flesh is flesh” as well as well Nicodemus’ misconception of “new birth” in verse 4 it seems to state the obvious. Since Jesus is speaking of new birth can anyone be born anew who has not been born in the first place? The simple answer is NO, so why would Jesus use an illustration of something that was irrelevant to the point he was trying to get across? The answer is He wouldn’t!
  2. Word of God: Others think that Jesus is using the phrase born of water as a description of the Word of God since else where the word of God is associated with water as in Eph. 5:26. And though this is biblically correct would Nicodemus have understood it and replied as he does in verse 9 “How can these things be”. Though this interpretation is correct theologically it is not correct contextually, that is to say it doesn’t fit the passage. Why would Jesus not just say this “unless one is born of the scriptures” if that is what He meant to say?   
  3. Holy Spirit: Some say that Jesus is making a reference to the Holy Spirit as He will more fully elaborate upon in the 7th chapter verses 37-39 where Jesus says “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” And like the above interpretation I again think this is correct but clearly in John’ own commentary of John chapter 7 the concept of being born of the Holy Spirit had not yet happened and I’m again left with the same point as above namely it being theologically correct but not contextually correct. 
  4. Water baptism: This view would make baptism essential for new birth something we clearly see is not the case else where in scripture. Further more Baptism is a typology of death not birth. Others seek to reconcile this by saying that Jesus is making reference to what baptism symbolized namely repentance and since the priests had come out to John the Baptist seeking answers to what he was doing perhaps this is what Jesus is speaking of. In this interpretation they would say that Jesus is saying unless one is repentive in their heart the Holy spirit can not come into their life therefore they can not enter the kingdom. Again this view of baptism and repentance is true theologically but is this contextually true?

There are two things to look at in helping us unravel the interpretation of what Jesus meant:

  1. First is the fact that this is a dialog between Jesus and Nicodemus and as such each statement they make leads to the next. Nicodemus came to Jesus investigating Him, searching to see if He was the Messiah and Jesus’ reply is to get Nicodemus to think beyond just the regathering of the people and the political world importance of Israel to the “spiritual transformation of the people” something they perhaps already thought they had or didn’t need.
  2. Secondly, is Jesus response to Nicodemus’ 2nd words of verse 9 “How can this be”. The emphasis is upon the fact that Jesus clearly expected Nicodemus to know these things. Would Jesus expect Nicodemus to know something as a teacher of Israel that had never been known before? No, the rebuke is not upon that which Nicodemus couldn’t have known but rather what he should have known but instead of believing questioned. So the question we are to answer is what are the “these things” Jesus is referring too in verse 10? The only conclusion I come up with is the Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah which is the very reason Nicodemus came to Jesus in the first place.      

In the Prophecy mentioned in Ezek. 36:25-28 we are told this, “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. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.” Do you see that before the “dwelling in the land that God gave before to their fathers” and before the “you shall be My people and I will be your God” was a cleansing and a new birth so that which had caused the separation would be dealt with and forever changed with a new heart that would want to walk in God’s word? It is this I believe that Jesus is pointing to as it fits both theologically as well as contextually. Nicodemus came to Jesus in search to see if He might be the Messiah and Jesus questioned not the search but that which he was using as the basis of the search outward signs. “The inward cleansing of the heart and the giving of a new heart which will cause you to walk in My statutes and keep My judgments so that you will dwell in the land that’s the sign you should be noting”. Nicodemus was struggling with what the rest of Israel was battling namely “the benefits of the kingdom of God with out the transformation of the heart”. Yes by the word of God and the Spirit of God which causes our repentance. The cleansing of the temple pointed to the cleansing of the heart of which Ezekiel spoke of and Nicodemus knew in part but had left off the first and most important part of the ruling and restoration work of the Messiah and that is over individual hearts and lives. In Isa. 44:3-4 we read the word of the Lord promising, “For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring; They will spring up among the grass Like willows by the watercourses.”

Vs. 6-8 That is why Jesus further defines what He means with the phrase, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” “You can’t enter the kingdom of heaven because you are the children of Abraham, your still flesh you need what Ezekiel spoke of a “new spirit” in you”, that is what Jesus is saying. There is a clear and radical difference between the old and the new birth when He says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”  

Jesus apparently based upon the facial expression of Nicodemus said, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.” The words do not marvel speak of unintelligent wonder or if you will disbelief as Nicodemus was stuck on his own goodness and wanted a national and political transformation for the nation without seeing the need for a personal transformation! And to make sure that Nicodemus didn’t miss the point Jesus restated it again “You must be born again”.  

While he and Nicodemus were talking they could probably hear the wind blowing through the streets of Jerusalem. Jesus said, “The wind blows where it wills”. It is sovereign; no man directs it. There is a work of God’s Spirit within a person’s life whereby that person becomes into a totally new dimension of life, the dimension of the Spirit. Paul described it this way in 2 Cor. 5:17 “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

The weather forecasters tell us each day where the jet stream is, but they cannot say where it is going to be tomorrow. The Greek word “wind” here and the word “Spirit” is the same word and Jesus’ point is to tell Nicodemus that the Holy Spirit works like the wind moving the way the He feels best and we don’t necessarily have to understand it completely to experience the effects of its moving an so too with the work of the Holy Spirit in our new birth it will result in a totally new lifestyle; that will cause the person never be the same.


Vs. 9-10 How can these things be?

Vs. 9-10 Nicodemus answered Him and he said, “How can these things be”? That’s a question that is asking for the process isn’t it? “What’s the process that can transform a man into a new creation?” So Jesus puts a question back “How can you be a teacher and not know”? Nicodemus had came that night in the dark inquiring of Jesus as too Him being the Messiah but it was the darkness of his own intellect that held him from receiving the truth at that moment.


John 3:11-21

“For God so loved the world”

I. Intro.

II. Vs. 11-13 Two places at one time

III. Vs. 14-16 The antidote for snake bites

IV. Vs. 17-21 Two groups


Intro.

Nicodemus came to Jesus on that night (because of the signs he had heard and seen) wanting to know if Jesus was the hoped for Messiah. So when Jesus addresses him for the first time it is along the lines of the need for personal transformation not national preeminence and politically importance. Now based upon Nicodemus’ twice repeated questions “How can” we know that he was searching for the process on new birth. He doesn’t deny the need for personal transformation but he questions the process. In Isa. 59:1-1 The Lord spoke to mankind saying, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” John the Baptist came as a voice crying in the wilderness to prepare hearts but Nicodemus and others hadn’t been listening. Jesus would say in Luke 16:16 “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.” Then in Luke 24:44 Jesus said “all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” In this section we will see that Jesus answered Nicodemus question of the process in four ways:

  1. Vs. 13 Life through light
  2. Vs. 14 Life through My death
  3. Vs. 15-16 Life through love
  4. Vs. 17-21 Life through loving the light

Vs. 11-13 Two places at one time

Vs. 11-13 The problem of the Pharisees was a problem of the heart not of lack of understanding the process. So in verses 11-13 Jesus speaks as a teacher to a teacher, “Hey Nic, your difficulty is not as much in your not understanding the process but rather in you over looking it.” You see Nicodemus had spent his life studying the word of God so much so that now he was considered a teacher of the people, he knew the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel where God had spoken of a “New Covenant” saying that He would take out the old heart of stone and gives a new heart of flesh. All through the Old Testament there are statements about a new birth, a new beginning, a new creation, a new life that would come as a gift of God. In John 5:39 Jesus would say “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”

            Now notice that Jesus goes back and deals with Nicodemus opening statement and his words “we know that You are a teacher” and so Jesus says, “We speak what We know and testify what We have seen”. “I’ve told you earthly things, (birth, water, wind) and you do not understand how are you going to understand heavenly things.” Jesus is speaking of the incarnation which has two specific purposes doesn’t it? To show the way and to be the way! 

  1. To show the way: Jesus earthly life showed the way as He would say in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
  2. But in His death He became the way: It is this mystery that caused even more confusion as we are told in John 12:32-34 where Jesus said “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” This He said, signifying by what death He would die. The people answered Him, “We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”

In the 13th verse Jesus speaks of His incarnation and says something often over looked read this carefully, “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.”  Did you see that? Jesus is right in front of Nicodemus who is questioning the process of the new birth and Jesus says, “The Son of Man who IS in heaven” not WAS but IS folks. Jesus is speaking and testifying of things He was seeing at that very moment as He was in heaven and on earth at the same time. “Nic, It’s why I’ve come, I’ve come down from heaven but I’m also still in heaven why I’m speaking to you”. In Matt 19:25-26 upon hearing that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle that for a rich man to enter into heaven the disciples in astonishment said, “Who then can be saved?” and Jesus replied “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” That is just what Jesus has shown Nicodemus isn’t it “How can these things be?” “Well they are impossible for man but I’m not man I’m God!”


Vs. 14-16 The antidote for snake bites

Vs. 14-16 The story in Numbers 21:4-9 would have been one familiar to Nicodemus it is the story of sin and rebellion of the nation and God’s judgment upon them by sending fiery serpents that bit the people. You could say pardon the pun that the people were snake bit with sin. But it is also a story of God’s grace as Moses interceded on their behalf. 

Brass is the metal of judgment and Jesus is the Lamb of God how picturesque as we see the symbol of sin (the serpent) being judged lifted up because the Lamb of God would be lifted up that whosoever would fix their trust upon Him would not parish from the snake bite of sin. So Jesus’ answer to Nicodemus 2nd question “How can this new birth be?” “Well when I am lifted up put your trust in Me”! Jesus says in verse 14 that the lifting up of Himself is a “Must” that those that would look upon Him would be saved from the snake bite of sin, it’s a “must” there is only one cure for what ails mankind. People are oblivious to the fact that they have been bitten since birth, they aren’t aware they are dying from the effects of the bite of sin but the poison is circulating through out. What is interesting as those Israelites came to Moses to intercede on their behalf God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent instead of just healing them out right. You see in the provision for their healing God gave them a responsibility to look up and to trust in God’s provision but if they wouldn’t do so they wouldn’t be healed. That’s what people reject about Jesus isn’t it? Oh they want God to provide the antidote for their snake bite but they don’t want to take any responsibility for either being bitten in the first place nor the need to continue the relationship afterward.

            Interesting, to realize what happened to the bronze serpent upon the poll. It seems according to 2 Kings 18:4 that the pole later became an idol and they began to worship it in later years. It was during the reign of Hezekiah as he had to take that which had in years past was a symbol of healing as sin was judged and break it on the ground because people were worshipping it. The people had forgotten what it symbolized and made it an object of worship calling it Nehushtan, which simple means “a brass thing”. Most traditions show the serpent being wrapped around the pole, and it is this image that the ancient physicians used as a figure of healing and medicine. Is that not ironic that man has grabbed the symbol of God’s healing and used it for their healing? Hey saints we need to be careful not to make idols out of symbols because when we do that which God once used in our life is quickly reduced to a “brass thing”. Whenever we begin to worship the relics of our past no matter how instrumental they we were in our healing we are showing that God’s work in our lives is past history, which is a sign that we have lost God in the present!  Paul wrote in Philip. 3:13-14 “but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Vs. 15 So Jesus identifies what that bronze serpent upon the poll in the desert symbolized when He tells Nicodemus in verse 15 “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus tells him right in verse 15 and then repeats it again in verse 16 “Whoever believes in Him”.  

They had to trust in that which appeared to be foolish, something that didn’t appear to be sufficient to safe them but there wasn’t a plan “B”. That is what the Lord said through Isa. 45:22 “Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” Think of that for just a moment Jesus says that the cure is universal it doesn’t matter how much of the poison of the snake bite of sin has ruined your life you may be on your last breath or you may by feeling no ill effects at all “whoever” you are Jesus’ blood is the anti-venom that will cure you no matter what state you are in. Ah but look at “believes in Him” as that tells us that it is not good enough if your snake bit to know that Jesus’ blood is the anti-venom you have to take it trust in it alone, that is what Jesus means by the use of the word “Believes in Him”. Think of it this way you get up into an airplane over at Hamilton airport and you strap on a parachute you get up there a few hundred feet and you jump out of the plane free fall a while and then pull the cord causing the parachute to deploy and you glide safely to the ground. You get back in the plane this time with the parachute next too you. You believe in the parachute you have deployed it before but this time you jump out of the plan without it on your back and the fellow up there throws it out after you. Now all the way down you can be saying I believe in the parachute you will save me parachute and bring me safely to the ground but what is missing is it is not on your person. That parachute must be your savior not just the savior! Did you know that you can put any name that there has ever been in place of the word “world” and it is still correct?

            Hey did you know that Jesus did not die in order for the Father to love sinners, no the Father so loved us that He gave Jesus. This for ever is the proof of what John would write in 1 John 4:8, 16 that God is love it His very nature. God loved, God gave, I believe and I have everlasting life. Ever lasting life is far more than endless existence it is life enjoyed in His presence without end!

Vs. 16 To communicate something that you know so well and love so completely is difficult but to do so in 25 words is utterly amazing. You see in verse 16 Jesus uses only 25 words to communicate three truths about God the Father:

  • The Father’s heart: “He loved the world”
  • The Father’s plan: “He gave His only begotten Son”
  • The Father’s will: “Whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”

In verse 16 we learn five things about God’s love:

  1. We learn the object of God’s love: For God so loved the world. God did not wait for the world to turn to Him before He loved the world. He loved and gave His only begotten Son to the world when it was still the world!
  2. We learn the expression and the gift of God’s love: He gave His only begotten Son. God’s love didn’t just feel for the plight of a fallen world. God did something about it, and He gave the most precious thing to give: His only begotten Son.
  3. We learn the recipient of God’s love: Whoever believes in Him. God loves the world, but the world does not receive or benefit from that love until it believes in Jesus, the gift that the Father gave. Believes in means much more than intellectual awareness or agreement. It means to trust in, to rely on, and to cling to.
  4. We learn the intention of God’s love: Should not perish. God’s love actually saves man from eternal destruction. God looks at fallen humanity, does not want it to perish, and so in His love He extends the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ.
  5. We learn the duration of God’s love: Everlasting life. The love we receive among people may fade or turn, but God’s love will never change. He will never stop loving His people, even unto the furthest distance of eternity.

And in the English translation of this verse the 13th word is Son which tells me that Jesus is at the center of the Father’s heart, plan and will concerning His manifested love for you and I. Surrounding the word Son are 9 other key words: God, loved, world, gave, whosoever, believeth, perish, have, and life. Although most of us have this verse etched on our brains why not for the next 9 days spend a few minutes upon each of those 9 other words as they relate to you and me?


Vs. 17-21 Two groups

Vs. 17-18 And to encourage the most need to come Jesus says that He has not come to condemn. You may be here today and are afraid because of something in your life now or in the past and you are concerned about Jesus’ involvement in your life but what you read here ought to set your heart at peace. Hey friend there is no fine print, no hidden clause that would exclude your sins, so now you have no reason not to trust Him. According to verse 18 there are only two types of people:

  • He who believes
  • He who believes not

And right now hearing this verse you are in one of those two categories. Notice it is not about Jesus coming to earth doing miracles it’s about your trusting in Him not just for the moment but completely, absolutely. Now if you are in the group that “believes not” I’d like to invite you right now this moment to get out of that group because it says that you are in the group that “is condemned” not will be but already are. So if you are in the group that is condemned it is not because of all your sins but rather because “you have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God”. So the only question folks have to ask is are they going to stay in the dark and perish or come into the light?   

Jesus came to this world not to put people down but rather to pick people up not with a pointing finger but with an embrace. That’s the difference between all other religions and Christianity they tell man what to do to reach heaven and Jesus came down from heaven to take everybody that trusts in Him back. God didn’t send His Son Jesus into the world to remind us what a bunch of screw ups we are, give us a bunch of cleaver sayings He came with only one aim “that the world through Him might be saved” His coming was for us! Is that not the most amazing revelation ever? Suppose you had the opportunity to meet the physical Jesus, I mean He came up too you in a crowded mall or up on a trail in the Bitterroots and introduced Himself to you. So in front of you is the word of life the creator of everything and you ask Him “Why are you here?” Well HE would answer in one word, “YOU!” “I’m here for you; I want you to be a part of My family!” WOW! You are the singular most important person to Jesus did you know that? Ah but let me ask you is He the singular most important person to you?        

Vs. 19-21 Finally we have the answer from the lips of Jesus of one of the most perplexing questions that haunts mankind, “Why don’t people come to Jesus?” I mean He is the cure for what ails them and He has been given free of charge but people make all kinds of excuses, tell us not today or that if it works for you or my favorite “I’m a good person!” So according to Jesus, “Why don’t people come to Jesus?” The issue isn’t intellectual it’s not really about evolution, Cain’s wife, the Pigmy’s in Africa or the Immaculate Conception. No according to Jesus, the one and only reason people don’t come to the Him is because they prefer darkness of their sinful life.


John 3:22-36

“He Must Increase”

I. Intro.

II. Vs. 22-26 All are coming to Him

III. Vs. 27-30 Competition or completion

IV. Vs. 31-36 Four truths about Jesus


Intro.

One of the perplexing problems in life is that disobedience seems like fun while doing what is right seems to be hard and not fun. Take for instance the food groups why is that everything that we like isn’t good for us while everything we don’t like is? I mean why didn’t God make it the other way around? Or to state it another way, “Since God made life, why is it so hard to be good and so much fun to be bad?” I bet you would like an answer to that question wouldn’t you? Well I’m going to give you one but it’s going to be a little difficult to grasp. You see we live in an upside down world a world that has been changed an altered by sin. It is a world of pain and sorrow of death and it has tainted or taste buds as well as every other part of our senses. Do you hearing what I’m saying? God didn’t make it backwards we are the ones that became backwards! And Jesus is the one who has come to right the world back to the way it was created and so heaven won’t be less fun it will be more fun but just not the way the world in sin is now!


Vs. 22-26 All are coming to Him

Vs. 22-24 Some time after Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus Jesus and His disciples came to the area of Judea and were baptize and based upon chapter 4:1-3 this was a deliberate act intended to speak to the Pharisees even though Jesus didn’t do the baptizing but His disciples did. Jesus was carrying on a ministry similar to that of John the Baptist at this time and in close proximity to each other. John the last and greatest of the prophets and Jesus the heir of all things the beginning or the consummation of that which all the prophets and John had been sent to tell God’s people. The apostle John gives us a little further insight that all of this took place before John had been thrown in prison. So why does he tell us that, I mean it would have been a bit difficult for the Baptist to be baptizing in the Jordan after he was in prison. Well he mentions this not with the Baptist in view but with the Messiah in view. It is to show us that Jesus ministry was going to have a radical change after John the Baptist was in prison but prior it was similar to His cousins John’s. 

This is the last time in this gospel that John’s word are recorded and they are most profound as they hold the key’s to happiness and harmony in the Christian life and it’s all about remembering that we are living in an upside down world and that Jesus has come to correct this. What set this discussion up was competition and jealousy. Competition is one of the ugliest things to enter the family of God, when rivalry between churches comes in as it impedes the progress of the gospel. So here we see the new Olympic sport of “competitive baptism”, how many could be dunked in an hour. “John they are over there starting a new denomination they isn’t Baptist”, they cried. 

There is a practical application in these verses dealing with why John the Baptist was baptizing in Aenon as it simply says, “there was much water there”. John wasn’t there because the location fulfilled some O.T. prophecy. No, he was there because it best suited what God had told him to do make hearts ready for the Messiah. Far too often we make knowing God’s will to difficult thinking that we have to be at some specific location to be in God’s will. Hey saints it’s the location of our hearts that maters most and some times He will closes a door and move us out of our comfort zones because it better suits His work in us. What a great word that is today “Go where there is much water” let the word of God direct you.

Vs. 25-26 The argument began on doctrinal grounds but then moved to personal grounds as success was reduced to numerical popularity of Jesus when compared to John. I must admit that when I read their statement to John my heart goes out to them. They had followed John at a great cost they were outside the mainstream, trend setters, ushering in reforms that needed to take place with in Judaism and crowds were coming things were happening and their invisibility had become visible, their obscurity had become popular as all of Israel was coming to see. But now the movement was losing ground and what had become a necessity was just becoming a hassle as only those who came to debate were attending. When at first they came they did so convinced of what John was saying and doing but at some point during the crowds something had crept into their hearts that had caused this statement. Hey saints listen up as it can happen to you and I, you see these fellows began to love what ministry brought them as far as an identity more than the reasons they were attracted to John’s words in the first place the need personal reformation. Once when noted missionary Hudson Taylor was being introduced with great words of praise just before he spoke, when he finally got up to speak he said, “I am but a little servant of an illustrious Master”.

            What John’s disciples saw as competition he saw as completion and friends that will always be what challenges us in our service. I’ve served as a pastor in churches for 20 years now and through out those years people have come to the church I’ve served at from other churches and they have left the church I served to go to other churches. Now I have a choice I can view their departure as competition or completion that’s up to me. We ought to praise God when they come and praise God when they go because perhaps they will be better completed in Jesus by fellowshipping else where just as many were better completed in this season of their lives by coming here.


Vs. 27-30 Competition or completion

In verses 27-36 there are two statements concerning Jesus: 

1. Vs. 27-30 Jesus is the focal point of history not mankind. That is the main reason people aren’t happy today is that they think that they are the focal point of life. Books have been written and our whole society has been told that “If it makes you happy do it” “live for the moment” and all. It is these philosophies that reveal that we are living in an upside down world as they do not take in consideration what happens if doing what makes me happy makes those around me miserable. Here is what John the Baptist says in these verses to his followers who had become jealous of the popularity of Jesus, “Life isn’t about me, I’m not the One who can change the world, all I can do is be useful in pointing people to the only One who can and in so doing I’m become full of joy”. This competition is not removed from today is it? It’s the old numbers game, “How big is your church, how many got baptized” And in this is the question of “Who is the most popular”? And John’s answer is “Jesus” but he does so in three ways:

a. Vs. 27 All positions come from God: It is God who places people where they are for His purpose and plan and it has nothing to do with us. John the Baptist had been given a role by God and it wasn’t to be the center of attention that was the role of Jesus his was the role of pointing people to Jesus and it was his pure joy and privilege to do so. Hey saints, don’t let God’s work in you go to waste by what He has accomplished through you. What? The greater work God does in our individual lives isn’t what He does through us it is what He is doing in us. Don’t get a big head and all remember He was able to make a donkey speak and as far as I know He is doing so now. Paul would say to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 4:7 “For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”

b. Vs. 28 Stay on course: The best way not to get lost in life is to stay on course. That is what John tells his followers, “I haven’t changed what I told you guys, it’s not about me it’s never been about me and it’s never going to be about me.” Oh don’t miss this as we are so prone to get off course aren’t we? Here I believe we get an insight into where we get astray with regards to our heart and it is when we lose sight of our purpose and calling and get an over inflated view over our importance. So John says, “I’m not the most important person there has ever been I told you at the beginning I wasn’t I’m just here to point you to the One that is.”

c. Vs. 29 Take joy in your calling: When John saw the crowds leaving him and following Jesus it brought him the greatest joy because he knew that Jesus could do for them what he could never do and that was save them. “Hey fellows”, John say, “It’s not my wedding therefore it’s not about us it’s about Him”. In a Jewish wedding it was the best man’s responsibility to bring the bride to the groom and it was kind of like an inspection and only after the groom spoke would it mean that he accepted her.  John saw himself the “best man” at the wedding but not the “better man” and as such it was his great joy to bring the bride to the better man. Did you ever notice that the bride never chooses the “best man” she always chooses the better man?

 Vs. 30 John then utters one of the most truthful yet in light of living in an upside down world amazing statements ever uttered, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Verse 30 contain seven words that sum up what being a Christian is all about and I find it interesting that it came right after John’s word about being full of joy at hearing Jesus voice. A old wise pastor once told a room full of seminary students this truth when he said, “You can never at the same time convince people that you are a great preacher and that Jesus is a great Savior” it will be either one or the other you will make the choice but only one can save souls. God’s use of us is in spite of us not because of us. 

When John the Baptist first met Jesus he was still in his mother’s womb and leaped for joy and now here at the end of his ministry he is till leaping for joy. It was the “best man’s” responsibility to escort the bride and groom into the bridal chamber to consummate the marriage once in the room with his bride the groom would tell him that everything is great which would bring joy to the best man. Do you hear what John is saying? He is saying that which brings the greatest joy in the heart of those who bring the bride to the groom isn’t what we get to do but what the Groom does in taking the bride as His own. There are far too many who serve in ministry whose joy is all about what they get to do instead of what Jesus is doing and you will find that out if you dare change what they were doing. Hey what brings you joy hearing the voice of the Groom or is it about you?

Did you notice that John the Baptist said first “the Jesus must increase” before we can decrease? There is my friend great truth in the order of John’s words and trying as we might to decrease will never work it is only when we allow Him to increase in our lives that we will decrease. Struggling with some old fleshly habit or attitude trying to rid yourself of it will not work instead feed your self with more of Jesus allow Him to increase and in so doing you will automatically be decreasing.

There are three “Must’s” in John chapter three and as such three must’s in a Christian’s life:

  1. Vs. 7 “You must be born again”: The First MUST is what we all start with the recognition of our own need. You see when we come to Jesus and are Born again we do so by admitting that we are sinners in need of salvation. Jesus hasn’t come to reform sinners He has come to transform sinner. There are far too many people that are wrong on this point aren’t there?    
  2. Vs. 14 “even so must the Son of Man be lifted up”: The second MUST deal with the instrument of that transformation and that of coarse is Jesus. Our transformation has occurred because our sin was judged upon our savior on His cross and it is only when you and I have looked to that work and trust in it alone that we are transformed.
  3. Vs. 30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Finally the third MUST is that which happens after our transformation as it is the MUST of a servant. We need to get our of the way and point people to HIM and not ourselves our activities, our church. This ought to be the heart of every believer in Jesus especially those who are pastors and teachers. It is not our popularity and notoriety that saves people its Jesus. It’s not Calvary Chapel’s programs or visibility in our community that saves anybody its Jesus, to He must increase and we must decrease. You and I ought to do what Jesus said in Matt. 6:3 “do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing”. The truth is it is in our invisibility that His visibility is best seen.

Vs. 31-36 Four truths about Jesus

Vs. 31-36 Now we come to the second great truth presented in this section, Jesus is the only one worth listening too. Here we see the difference between John the Baptist who was the “voice in the wilderness” and Jesus who is the “Word of God”. John first declares two things concerning Jesus:

  1. Vs. 31-32 John says that Jesus “comes from above” and therefore testifies of what He has seen and heard. In other words John the Baptist is saying that Jesus is an eyewitness of the things He is proclaiming His word is not hearsay as Jesus is speaking on earth of that whish He is seeing and Hearing.
  2. Vs. 33-34 The second point John makes is that of the reliability of the witness of Jesus as receiving His testimony is agreeing with God as Jesus speaks the Word of God and He does so by the Spirit with out measure. John declares four things about Jesus:
  3. Vs. 31 “He who comes from above is above all”: Notice that John doesn’t say “came” past tense but “comes” present tense as being there now. So John is saying that Jesus is superior to himself in “Person” because Jesus comes from above “heaven” where as John comes from the earth and speaks of the earth.
  4. Vs. 32-33 “What He has seen and heard, that He testifies”: Because of Jesus character and position His testimony is more accurate then John’s therefore Jesus offer more reliable “Proof” then John did. It’s for this reason receiving Jesus testimony is certifying that they believe God.
  5. Vs. 34 “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.” There is no limitation in the anointing upon Jesus life as He is perfect man because He is God; therefore John declares to his followers that Jesus is superior to himself in “Power”.
  6. Vs. 35 “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand”: Finally John declares that Jesus is superior in “Position” as He is the Son of whom the Father loves and whom He has placed all things into His hands. 

Vs. 36 It is for the above reasons that man has no excuse in rejecting Jesus testimony and in rejecting Him God’s judgment remains upon. You can say that what a person does with Jesus is a life or death sentence receive Him and you have everlasting life, ah but reject Him and the wrath of God abides upon you. Jesus is essential and what a person does with Him will be the only standard by which man will be judged.