J O H
N 3
v1-15
Jesus said, Truly, truly, I tell you the
truth. Unless you are born again you cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
If I were to go and ask people I met passing
in the street, ‘are you a Christian, and if so why do you think so? I would in
most cases get a reply such as, ‘of course, I live in this country’ or ‘I am because I
believe in God.’ Perhaps a variation on
those two.
Billy Graham, relates how at one of his
meetings a member of his team asked a man, ‘sir are you a Christian, and the
man replied I have been a member of the Church of England all my life, and I am
not changing now.
But not all people who attend Church, are in
fact Christians in the biblical understanding, either by belief or living. The gospel this morning is one of the
outstanding passages in the whole Bible, and helps define the difference
between a true Christian, and a make-believe one. I hope our study of it, will help you
whichever you are, and bring you to a close relationship with Jesus, which is
what God wants from all of us.
Jesus knew and understood all people, it was
part of His divine omniscience, knowing the hearts of people. He was in Jerusalem for the Passover feast,
and many people were there who knew of the wonderful deeds, especially the
raising of Lazarus from the dead. He
understood, how fickle people could be, so He took care they did not place Him
in a disadvantage.
The Chapter begins by referring to Nicodemus.
He was a member of the Jewish Government, a Pharisee, a Professor of Theology.
Rich and religious, he tithed part of all his income, he was the sort of man
many a Minister would welcome to be in his Church.
One evening under a mid-Eastern moonlit sky, he
went to see Jesus. We are not told the reason for going at night. Perhaps he
did not want to be seen, as it would have been an embarrassment for him, or
perhaps the best time to be alone with the Lord.
He addressed Jesus as ‘Rabbi’, showing
respect and courtesy to Jesus, for it was an honourable Office to Jews, and
Jesus was not entitled to be called Rabbi, for He had not had any Rabbinical
training.
There
are people now, who don’t like to acknowledge that they are identified with the
Church of Jesus, for fear of embarrassment or through being mocked. There are many who are too proud to seek
Jesus.
Nicodemus
spoke highly of the work of Jesus, and conceded that God must have been with
Him in order to do what Jesus had done. There is no need for anyone fearing to
see Jesus, He is there for any person to call on Him at any time.
Nicodemus
recognized that he needed a change in his life, and wanted to go deeper, he
wanted what Jesus offered. Sometimes it
may be difficult to admit this, but Nicodemus was ready to face up to it.
How many of you, might feel you are nice and
friendly, honest and do your best to help others, you have attended Church most
of your life, but apart from not attending Church, there are many people who
have all those qualities who belong to other faiths, or are in fact atheists,
more sincere than many Church members.
The religion of Nicodemus was that of doing
good works. The problem with a religion
of good deeds is, that we can never know when we have done enough, but that is
the basic religion of the world. 95% of the population today, believes that as
long as you are honest, kind and helpful to others and do no harm, you are a
fully fledged Christian with a passport to heaven.
Of the hundreds of funerals I have taken over
the years, there has never been any doubt that the deceased had gone to heaven.
The sad and cruel factor is, the Church has encouraged people to believe so; if
you doubt me, look at the liturgy in the funeral services.
Think for a moment, if you stood before Jesus
to day and He asked you why should you be allowed into heaven, what would you
say. Is there enough evidence in your life, to justify your admission?
Jesus sensed in Nicodemus, a deep hunger and
emptiness. He sincerely believed he was
doing what he thought God wanted from him, yet he had an unsatisfied heart that
led him to Jesus and risk incurring the wrath of his people.
There are many lovely people now, I
personally know some of them, who if only the Church would stop pandering to
noisy activists, and got down to spell out in simple terms what Jesus and the
Bible is calling for, would turn to Christ and be a valuable asset to the
Church and Christian faith.
Jesus answered Nicodemus with that phrase, which
has been immortalized by evangelical preachers, ‘you must be born again’. Jesus didn’t say ‘you must think about it’ or
‘you must consider it’. He said ‘you
MUST be born again.’
Nicodemus took Jesus’ words literally, and
asked ‘how can a man be born when he is old?’
Surely, he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb. In his heart, there was a great longing. He could see the effect Jesus was having on
crowds, and longed to have that ability.
He knew it was beyond him.
Billy Graham tells the story of a lady on a
bus in America sitting next to a Bishop.
She asked him, ‘have you been born again.’ The man answered, ‘I am a Bishop’. The lady said, ‘I didn’t ask you that. I asked if you were born again’. The bishop later said he went home, read this
chapter, and realized his life had been missing something real, and he realized
what the lady meant.
I get so much pleasure and inspiration, from
watching the services from American Churches, where the people seem to be so
much more God centered than in this country, and when you see how the people are
dressed, as if they were going to meet the Lord, and it is a joy to see them
with Bibles in their hands and the joy in their faces. Christianity is a joyful
faith, and we should enjoy praising the Lord and following Him in our Bibles.
Like many people today, Nicodemus felt he was
too old to change, too set in his ways, but we can begin anew at any age. So many people are desperately unhappy and
unsatisfied, because they are missing out in their lives. They seek refuge in alcohol or drugs, or
gambling or whatever. The thought of
seeking spiritual help is beyond their minds.
If you think of a birth, the body exists
before birth and can move and feel, but knows nothing of this world. It cannot see nor communicate, yet the world
is all around it. At the moment of
birth, the embryo comes in to the world and can see, breathe and make
contact. The baby is born of the flesh.
Women go through agony to give birth, and enabling us to live, and continue to
give care to their children after birth.
Jesus went through agony, being beaten 39
times with a leather studded belt, He collapsed after being made to carry his
own Cross, to die on it after nails had been driven through his hands and feet;
and still cares for his children of all ages still.
Jesus told Nicodemus, he needed an experience
analogous to his physical birth. To be
born again, is to be changed in such a way, that can only be described as a
re-creation. To be born of the Spirit, means to have the Spirit of Jesus Christ
living inside of you. It means that God’s gracious love comes and lives inside
of your heart, when you are ready to believe that Jesus Christ was Lord and is
the Savior of the World. That He died to take upon Himself the sins we have
committed, so that we may be forgiven and made righteous before God.
Jesus then said, ‘no one can enter the
kingdom of God unless born of water and the spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit
gives birth to spirit.’
The Kingdom of God, is a society in which the
will of God is done on earth as it is in heaven. To lead a life, in which we submit all
willingly to the will of God. What Jesus calls for is a complete transformation
in our lives. This means in our
thoughts, words and actions. Something which goes beyond irregular attendance
at Church, and a casual attitude to faith during the rest of the week.
People come to a point in life, when they
feel that they are going through the motion of religion, of having the ritual
without there being any sense of the real thing. If you come to that point in your
relationship with God, and it happens to people all the time, you need to come
before Jesus and ask Him to come into your life, and give you that new life.
At this time, John had been baptizing, and it
was a sensational event. Many people now
superstitiously think, that if they have their babies baptized, that will
ensure their entrance into heaven, a sort of once and for life matter,
irrespective of a life in between, which is pure superstition. Water may cleanse, and may make you smell
nicer, but that is not enough in God’s eyes.
What it stands for is important, but you have to grasp the full
symbolism, which is repentance for sin, and the start of a new way of
living.
Most people don’t want to admit there is
anything to repent of, they are perfectly good, and God should recognize that.
A Vicar put a notice outside his Church which read, ‘this church is here for
sinners.’ The next week two thirds of
his congregation were absent.
Jesus referred to the wind blowing, and being
heard without it being seen or knowing where it came from, or where it was
going. When we are born again, we feel
the Spirit of God inside us. You don’t
see God or control Him, but you see the effects when Jesus takes hold of your
life. You get that missing motivation;
worship becomes more meaningful and necessary to you. You don’t find so many excuses for not coming
to Church.
When we are born of the Spirit, we have a new
power within us which enables us to be what by ourselves, we could not be. We
see what a mighty change our Lord declares, as being necessary for salvation.
No one could be His disciples, unless the inner person be cleansed. The change
is not a superficial one, it is a change of heart and character, it is a
complete resurrection of being.
Jesus gave a good illustration by talking of
wind. We may not know where it came from or where going to, but we feel it even
though we could not see it, but we may see the effects of it.
Many thousands of people went to the Billy
Graham Crusades in the latter half of the last century. Touched by rousing hymns, massed choirs,
sermon by the world’s greatest preacher, they immediately had a Damascus road
conversion. Quite a lot of men became
clergy, and even bishops, other went back to their parishes and in the more
mundane atmosphere of 1662 Matins, poorly put together services, and
indifferent preaching, fell away; whilst others with regular worship and a
desire to know the Lord just grew in grace over time.
A person may attend Church regularly, and
love God and Jesus, but are deprived of the true gospel through poor preaching by clergy, who are reluctant
to be positive in their sermons lest they upset someone in the congregation. If
a preacher does not receive a complaint these days, he/she should start to examine
what they are preaching. Having someone
objecting to what you have said in a sermon,
is like having a badge of honor.
Some times, after a person has gone to Church
for years regularly and felt nothing in particular, and then one day hears a
word from the gospel, and it touched their heart, and all worship became more
personal and profound.
I attended Church from school days, and it
wasn’t until I was living in Mombasa in Kenya, and during a bible study, there
learned what born in the Spirit means. The
essentials of the faith are not preached
for congregations to learn.
Jesus referred to an event in the Old
Testament, when the Israelites were wandering in the desert, and complained
about God, who in His wrath sent snakes which killed people. When Moses prayed, the Lord told Moses to
make a bronze snake and put it on a pole, and when anyone was attracted, they
would be healed if they looked up at the pole.
God said, ‘my son will be lifted up on a
cross, and those who look to Him will be saved from their sins’.
We have the whole message of the gospel in
verse 16, ‘God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that
whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life, ’
If you have ever lost a son (or daughter), you
will know the sense of loss and pain which goes with it. This is what was
sacrificed for you and me.
Praise God for His Holy Gospel and pray He be Glorified