John Chapter 3

 ¹There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

A Pharisee is a member of an ancient Jewish sect, distinguished by strict observance of the traditional and written law, and commonly held to have pretensions to superior sanctity. (Oxford Languages)

² The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

Nicodemus came to Jesus at night… and my thoughts are that he was sneaking in a visit behind the backs of the other Pharisees, or he wanted a private moment with Jesus to ask questions where there wouldn’t be distractions. I get the impression that Nicodemus was different from the other Pharisees. It seems like he was following the Sanhedrin because of a love for God and not because of a need for religion and the following of the Law…. so when he saw Jesus, the hope inside of him drew him to ask these questions. The Pharisees were known to be sticklers of the Law…. they were not the most humble humans on the planet… but here was see Nicodemus… a Pharisee, humble himself to be taught by Jesus.

³ Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

⁴ Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

⁵ Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

The first birth of water refers to the birth when we enter into this world….and the second is when we enter into the family of God by being born again when we receive Jesus as our savior and are born into the family of God. The second one is in the spirit and the first is in the flesh.

⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

⁷ Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

⁸ The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

⁹ Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

¹⁰ Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

¹¹ Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

¹² If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

¹³ And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

Numbers 21:4-9–Tells of when Moses was leading the children of Israel out of Egypt to the promise land. God was giving them Manna to eat and providing for all of their needs, yet the children of Israel were complaining and murmuring. Serpents began biting them and many of them died… then some of them went to Moses and asked him to pray and have God stop the serpents. The Lord God told Moses to make a fiery serpent, place it on a pole and raise it up, then tell the children of Israel to look at the serpent and they would live. The serpents brought the children of Israel to repentance.

¹⁵ That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Just like looking at the fiery serpent saved the lives of the children of Israel, when we look to Jesus to save us, we are saved.

¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

When I was a child I had to wait in the car for my mother to see the doctor for her check up. Someone had put one of these little books with key verses from the bible in the car. There were maybe 20 verses in the book…one of them was John 3:16. To pass my time I decided I would memorize one of the verses…and as it turned out, I elected to memorize John 3:16. That verse never left me, and eventually I received Jesus as my Savior and Lord. There were so many layers to my journey to receive Jesus… so many workers put in time with me. There was vacation bible school, tracks I found and read, my aunt Helen and Uncle Ray…. bits of sermons I heard on the TV… Christians who stopped and spoke to me about my salvation… many workers…. but it was God who, by the Holy Spirit drew me… it was God that made all those seeds that were planted to sprout. If we are ever the person who gets to lead someone in the sinners’ prayer that’s a blessing, but there were many, many laborers who came before that tilled the soil, removed the rocks and thorns, that enriched the soil and made the ground a good host for the seed… and there were those who planted the seed and watered it… but it was God who gave the increase… so it’s a blessing to be the child who is tending the seed when the increase comes… when the person prays the prayer and receives Jesus as his/her savior. I say this to remind myself that while I may not be the one to lead the person in the prayer, I am still working in the field…. in the same way the person who gave the little book with the 20 or so verses in it to one of my parents, the book I found on that day appointed by the Lord. That person or persons will one day receive a reward they were not expecting for my salvation.

¹⁷ For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

We need to get this… really get it. Half of us are walking around feeling horrible for every sin we commit… even with repenting of these sins, we still feel condemned for them… but that was never the plan… the plan was that God knew we were sinners… and he wanted a relationship with us, but he can not be around sin at all, so he made a way… he sent Jesus to die for us… so we could be reconciled to God having the debt paid for our sins. Sin brings death…and God is life… sin can not be in God’s presence…..the sin has to be cancelled out in us, so we can have a life with God… the wages of sin or the result of sin is death…. it’s the natural chain of events. If we sin, we die…here and in eternity. Jesus came and died in our place… and gifted us eternal life. So now, we should never feel condemnation for sin, we have been forgiven, the debt has been paid. Condemnation is not conviction… Condemnation holds no hope…and conviction does… we know we can repent and get right and walk in our salvation through Jesus.

¹⁸ He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

There is no salvation outside of Jesus. Jesus is the only way because he is the only-begotten of the Father God. Jesus is the only person who could have died and paid the price. No good works can do it, no religion can do it…. only Jesus.

¹⁹ And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

²⁰ For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

There is a lot that can be said here. I’ve noticed something…and I’m not alone in that, other people are also noticing…. that the unsaved world is really very verbal in expressing their hatred for God. It used to be that the aggression was directed only at Christians, but now you see people openly making negative statements about the word…. from a position of the unlearned. (1 Corinthians 2:14 ¹⁴ But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.) The world rejects Christian morals and has begun vilifying it…. like when the people who are pro-abortion say that Christians who are against abortion are in to oppressing women. This reframes the position of Christians that believe all life is valuable, even unborn life… and it’s reframed as an act to oppress women. Calling out sin or classifying things that are sinful as sinful is vilified, for example, if I say to a young female that wearing clothing that is too revealing in public is unGodly and that we should dress modestly, then I’m accused of “Slut Shaming”. The act of dressing “slutty” isn’t the sin to those in darkness, the sin is me shining the light of Godliness on it that is rejected. The world is currently rejecting the light of the Gospel because their deeds are evil and because they don’t want to change or feel shamed over their sin.

²¹ But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

The heart that truly desires a relationship with God, is going to come to the light and will exposes whatever darkness they have in their life (sin) to the word so they can repent of it and change to reflect the light. John 8:12 ¹² Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

²² After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.

²³ And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.

²⁴ For John was not yet cast into prison.

²⁵ Then there arose a question between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purifying.

²⁶ And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.

²⁷ John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.

John is telling his disciples that God is the one that called him and his ministry was to prepare the way for the Son of God, the savior. I note the humility of John…. this man didn’t get all puffed up when Jesus came on the scene to begin his ministry marking the end of John’s ministry.

²⁸ Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.

²⁹ He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.

³⁰ He must increase, but I must decrease.

³¹ He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

Jesus is the Son of God, born of the Holy Ghost….. and John was born of man only. Jesus knows God the father because he was with God and can testify of God. It is Jesus that can save the soul.

³² And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.

³³ He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.

³⁴ For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

³⁵ The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.

³⁶ He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.