As we progress in the book of John, today’s teaching will examine the amazing encounter in Chapter 3 where Jesus meets in the night with a Pharisee named Nicodemus who wanted to learn more and ask Him questions. Their discussion reveals tremendous theological truths—many of which you may know as a Christian. I want to unpack these truths in light of a broader counsel of the Bible. Hopefully, I will reinforce these truths if you are Christian and introduce them in easy terms to understand if you are not or are just learning. So, here we go!
In verse 3:2, we see that Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus in the night and said to Him, “We know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do unless God is with him.” Unlike other more hard-hearted Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes and lawyers and such who constantly accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath or blaspheming or even accused Him of doing these works by the power of Satan, Nicodemus had a soft and curious heart towards Jesus, an honest heart that appreciated He was sent of God and wanted to learn more. Indeed, at His cross, Nicodemus asked Pilate for His body after He had died and wrapped Him in myrrh, spices, and linen with Joseph of Arimathea. In one of the apocryphal accounts, he was said to have the wealth of ten cities, which we lost after becoming a follower of Jesus. In this conversation, Jesus recognized Nicodemus’ heart and revealed many amazing truths to him for us to learn from and consider.
To answer this statement Nicodemus made, Jesus replied, “Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” At this statement, Nicodemus was shocked, seeing it in a literal sense, and asked incredulously how this was possible—for a man to be born twice, saying, “Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus then explains in verses 5-6, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit…”
So what does it mean to be born of the Spirit? In Jesus’ baptism, John bore witness in John 1:32-33, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’” After His resurrection and before His ascension to heaven, Jesus commissioned His disciples to make them His apostles (which means they were sent by God directly on His mission), saying to them, “‘Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ And when He had said this to them, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”
Before this scene, when He was preparing the disciples for His departure the night before His cross, He warned them in John 14:23, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to make Our home with him.” A little later, in John 16:7, Jesus says, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” In all these scriptures, God shows us how He will make a home with us when we love Him and believe and will send us the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit will not merely guide us into truth but will also impart power to overcome sin and operate in the spiritual gifts. As we see in Acts chapter 2, the power of the Spirit came upon the disciples gathered in the upper room. This power enabled the disciples and apostles to commit the same works of healing miracles and enabled them with the many gifts of the Spirit. In all these ways, the Spirit imbues their spirit with the gift and power of eternal life and the truth of God. They are born a second time, as children of God when the Holy Spirit is given them. Through the Spirit, they are able to perceive the things of heaven and God’s truths.
So, if this is what it means to be born of the Spirit, what does it mean when Jesus said, “What is born of flesh is flesh”? Before we receive the Holy Spirit, we are born of the will of man, through conception by our earthly mother and father. This flesh is destined to die just as man was cursed after the original sin in the garden of Eden. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The Bible testifies that the works of the flesh are all manner of sins, from lust to greed and pride, from gluttony and passions like anger to strife and backbiting, grumbling and drunkenness, sexual immorality and many more.
God gave us His law in the Torah to condemn the sin we commit in the flesh, and He sent Jesus to take the full wrath due by making Him which knew no sin to bear the weight of judgment by becoming sin in the flesh for us and dying in our place. In this, He met the just requirement of the law that condemns us who are born of the flesh and not God. Only God could die in our place. Romans 8:1 declares of us who put our faith in Jesus Christ, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
When we are born of the Spirit, we die to our flesh—just as Jesus died—to honor His sacrifice and to share in His Life. We submit ourselves to the sanctifying life of His Spirit given us and walk after the Spirit and not the flesh. Romans 6:8-11 exhorts us, “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
The next thing Jesus says to Nicodemus is interesting and telling of the work of the Spirit. He says, “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Long before this conversation, the prophet Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 30:21, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’ Whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.” When we are born again of the Spirit, His presence will literally guide us in our lives with instruction to take certain paths. He will let us know God’s will. It may even be as simple as instructing us to take a different exit on the highway or put away your shopping cart or some other mundane task. Without knowing why, you obey and next thing you know, He has put us in the path of someone specific we need to minister to or pray for. This is just one example. You never know, small or large, how the Spirit will guide you, but this is part of being God’s child.
Since Jesus didn’t explain all these details to Nicodemus, he asked Him, “How can these things be?” He didn’t understand. And Jesus told him, “Are you a teacher of Israel and do not know these things? Most assuredly I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” Jesus is saying, for all His preaching in terms of earthly concepts in His parables, for example—His preaching the words and truths the Spirit gives Him to share—the Pharisees and leaders did not understand or believe. If they did not understand or receive the earthly terms He tried to use to make the concepts available to them, how would they understand the heavenly truths behind them?
He goes on to say to Nicodemus, “No one has ascended to heaven except He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” In this, Jesus is saying that He is the only one, God, who has come down from heaven to die and be lifted up on the cross and live again and ascend back to heaven. He alone is able. He is appealing to Nicodemus’ knowledge of scripture to remind him of a story in the Old Testament in which God had severely judged the Israelites for rebellion and thousands had died in the wilderness. Showing mercy, God instructed Moses to drape a bronze sculpture of a serpent on a cross and lift it up for the Israelites to see. Those who looked upon it would be spared from perishing and live. So it is with Jesus today. Those who look upon His victory over sin and the serpent Satan, those who look upon His sacrifice on the cross with faith in Him, will be spared from perishing and shall live eternally.
And why did God offer Jesus? Did He send Jesus to come and Judge the world? No! He comes to Judge the world in His Second Coming. His first coming was to Save the world by grace through faith. So the next thing Jesus says in this conversation reveals God’s intentions and heart in sending Jesus. This is likely the most famous scripture in the whole Bible for all time. Jesus then says in verse 16-17, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” He didn’t shed His blood just to hold it against us. He shed it in love and compassion on our helpless estate, born into sin, facing holy judgment.
He showed *the world* mercy: that includes *you.* There are two truths to note in this reality: if you have shame and feel unworthy of Him or His sacrifice, He is here saying that is not true. He has done this in love for you, knowing your sinfulness and choosing the cross for *you* whom He has known from the beginning. If you feel you don’t need saving and you’re good enough on your own: He is saying you are NOT good enough! Only He was Good Enough. You, like all the world, are fallen and will face judgment for sin. If you reject His sacrifice, you spurn His love and mercy and claim to be God, the only Righteous One. You reject Him and must face judgment.
Do not do this!! Love God back, like He loved you!! Accept His love and mercy in the cross, and give Him your life.
The last words Jesus speaks to Nicodemus describe this reality, saying, “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe in Him is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
When we trust in our own goodness rather than the truth of God’s mercy on us in His cross, we love the dark and do not want our pride to be exposed. But the light of God’s truth exposes our pride. When we refuse to give up rebellion and sin and the works of the flesh, we love the dark and do not want to die to our sin and spurn the Son of God who calls us into the light of humility and mercy. However, when we humble ourselves and repent and receive His sacrifice for our sins, we receive Him in truth and love God for what He has done. He grants us the gift to become His own child, born again of His Spirit and guided into sanctity and holiness and Truth.
Be not hardhearted to the heavenly things Jesus has taught us today in this amazing conversation with Nicodemus. Bring a soft and open heart to receive His words and truths, curious and willing to grow and truly see the Son of Man sent from heaven. Receive Him into your heart today and be born again to the precious gift of the Holy Spirit and His everlasting life! Come to the light and let your deeds be clearly seen: your humility to receive your Savior. When your deeds are seen, they will be known to come from God. They will testify of His truth to a fallen world and draw others to faith. Thank You Lord for Your saving grace! Let us then die to sin and the flesh and live to God in Christ Jesus. Let us follow Christ faithfully to heaven!