Hello everyone. We're back in the gospel of John chapter 3. And if you're looking for a Christmas message this time of year, this is not the one. Maybe I'll get something out later, but right now we want to stay focused Chapter 3 now if you haven't heard the messages just before this I really suggest you Catch up with them because I've been reading The first eight verses a lot and I don't have time to read them again We're talking about Jesus discussion with Nicodemus and the first big topic is some verses right now that are before the big discussion about Moses of the serpent in the wilderness and there's just sort of get I think look over lightly And it's been I guess my mission to bring a little more depth out of these Connecting statements Jesus made because there's a lot of application for them So I'm gonna start with John chapter 3 and for the sake of the last message, I'm going to read verses 10 and 11 and or assuming 9 and 10 and then verses 11 through 13, which is our actual lesson tonight and Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? These things having to do with being born of water and the Spirit. These things about the Holy Spirit working like the wind. You can hear the sound, but you can't tell where it comes from, where it goes. So is everyone that's born of the Spirit. Nicodemus seems clueless. He's the master teacher of Israel. And so he asked the question. How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him art thou a master or actually literally art thou the master or the teacher of Israel and Because in all fairness We were able to take last week and show from the Old Testament scriptures how many times well not all the scriptures But we were able to show how much the Holy Spirit is mentioned is doing the work in people's hearts and lives and prophetically God was going to do an even greater thing for Israel in the future and it was a work of the Spirit it was a work of the Spirit using the Word of God, which is the essence of the idea of being born of water and spirit and so anyways Nicodemus you should have had some clue you should at least have some idea so so there's a there's a rebuke there but it's indicative of really what all the Pharisees were missing And we looked at Romans 10 and it talked about Israel trying to establish their own righteousness and instead of the righteousness of God and they took the very scriptures they were given and the ordinances they were given and turned it into something else not what God intended so there's a big error here and how we handle the scriptures and We're trying to deal with this tonight, but we must move along now Jesus continues and says if Assuming verse 11 Verily verily truly truly I say unto you we speak that we do know and testify that we have seen and Ye now ye is a plural word. So when your Bible says you you need to know not just saying this to Nicodemus One translation says you people You the Pharisees I think is the idea here could Nicodemus is representative of them you plural receive not our witness If I have told you earthly things and you believe not How shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven even the Son of Man which is in heaven okay, we Go from there now and ask a tough question about what is truth. What is your truth? Everybody today sort of has a custom truth. This is what I believe, and you can believe what you believe, that's your truth, and I'll believe what I want to believe, that's my truth, and you're okay, I'm okay, or sometimes they'll say I'm okay and you're not okay. Because my truth is better than your truth, and I'm judging your truth. And as people wrestle around here, we're asking what is truth? Is there an absolute truth that is the one and only truth, and everybody needs to get in line with it? Because you couldn't do math that way. Anyways, this is the tough part. Does your truth come from heaven, or does it come from earth? That's what we gotta get into tonight. And I have to be blunt here. If your truth is from the earth, it's from hell. That's an awful hard statement, but I'm gonna back it up. I'm gonna take a little time to invest here in John chapter eight. John chapter eight and verse 43 through 47. Jesus said, why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear my word. You are of your father, the devil, and the loss of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own. I think one translation said he speaks his own natural language. For he is a liar and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, you believe me not. Which of you convinces me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? He that is of God hears God's words. You therefore hear them not, because you are not of God. Jesus would be another one, too, wasn't he? I'd like to go to 1 John, not the Gospel John, but 1 John, chapter four of the first six verses. 1 John, chapter four, starting with verse one. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, or test them. Because many false prophets are gone out into the world Hereby know we the spirit of truth I said that wrong hereby know we the Spirit of God Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God and every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God and There's a whole lot of reasons why John worded this. And you would have to start studying a subject called Gnosticism to understand how many strange theories there were about Jesus Christ. Was he a man? Was he God? What about his body? Was he a spirit? And we can't go there, but John was led by the spirit to word this very carefully. But let's go on and catch more. And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, the false teachers. Because greater is he that is in you, that's Jesus Christ if you're a child of God, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. In reference to the devil being the god with a small g of this world, that one that Jesus said of the Pharisees that he is your father, the devil, a liar, and a murderer. Well, they are of the world, therefore speak they of the world. And the world hears them. We are of God. He that knows God hears us. He that is not of God hears not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. I read all the way to verse six. But even in the days of the apostles, the spirit of Antichrist was already around. We hear talk in many circles about the Antichrist coming one day, and he is. He may be alive on this earth at this moment for all we know, but that spirit of Antichrist has been here since the time that Jesus ascended to be with the Father and the disciples, the apostles had to go out and start spreading the word. He's at work, he's confounding things, confusing things, defiling things, taking truth and twisting it, Offering alternate truths, but the test is if you're God you'll listen to what the Apostles say and to what Jesus says, and let them interpret the Old Testament for you properly, so you can understand the truth as it is in Jesus. And aside from that, there are counterfeits, demonic counterfeits to the truth that the Bible teaches. Often it uses Bible, and it's tricky. But we go to 1 Timothy chapter four, verse one. 1 Timothy chapter four and verse one, Now the Spirit speaks expressly, definitively here, that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. Okay, we're living in those latter times, without a doubt. Technically latter days have been ever since Jesus came to earth but that's a that's a broad sense but as time moves on Demonic doctrine demonic ideas are Infecting and inflicting people and even confusing the children of God That's why we must be so careful to compare scripture with scripture to prayerfully bear witness to the truth to honor time-tested teaching and not bunch of new stuff and And we've lived long enough now that a lot of old heresies seem like new things today, but they've been around a long time, and they've been refuted soundly throughout history, and the scriptures themselves provide refutation of demonic doctrines. Okay, one more is James 3.15. I wasn't gonna turn there, but now since I said it, I gotta quote it properly. James in chapter 3 talks about the tongue in the early part of the chapter and he gets to the matter of wisdom in the second half of chapter 3. So James 3 and verse 15 captures the point I want to make for right now. There is a type of wisdom that people present, and they can look very good, and they can sound very good, and they can quote lots of Bible, and they can do all kinds of clever things. But James warns us, this wisdom descends not from above, but it is earthly, sensual, devilish. Okay, I can't give any more time to that particular subject, but now I want to look at John 3 11 John 3 11 Verily verily I say unto you we speak that we do know and testify that we have seen and you receive our witness Okay Jesus used what we call the Imperial we The we of majesty how a king might talk But I believe it's proper to see here that he is identifying himself with the triune God That he is not coming as some individual man. He is in harmony with the triune God and His doctrine is of God and he makes that clear in many places and I do not come with my own doctrine. I come with the doctrine of the one who sent me in reference to the Father. And what I speak, what I do is not mine. It's what the Father sent me to say and to do. He says his words in John 6, 63. They are spiritual. They give life. The flesh profits nothing. These words I speak, they are spirit, they are life. They're life-giving, they're spiritual, they're heavenly. And not just some concoction of man-made wisdom. Well, Jesus then turns to Nicodemus, and I mentioned this already, he uses the plural word for you, which in our modern English Bibles, you can't distinguish that. But in the old King James, ye is a plural word. Anything starts with a Y is plural ye and you thee thou by our singular they start with a T, but nevertheless Jesus uses as he said this to Nicodemus he's in a sense saying it to all the Pharisees all the teachers of Israel the ones who are rejecting him and so in verse 12 he refers to earthly things and If I have told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things? Okay, so has he been talking about earthly things? Isn't everything all spiritual? Well, Spiritual things that have already been given to us have their connection here on earth. Not brand new revelations. Let's put it this way. Jesus referred to his teaching of earthly things. The scriptures that already exist, they already held in their hands, revealed the work of God saving people. Right from the beginning in Genesis, we can show you God's grace, man's sin, how God deals with sin and sinners. We can study salvation all the way from Genesis all the way through Malachi and of course Matthew and beyond. But those scriptures that they held in their hands are already here on earth. Okay, the way of the wind, which he had mentioned earlier in John 3, that's an earthly, tangible example of the work of God's Spirit. The salvation of men on earth begins in heaven and comes down to earth. But Jesus said, if I have told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things? Now there is so much more Jesus would like to tell people of God's great glory and grace. But without a proper response to the gospel truth, people will not be ready to discuss higher, heavenly, divine things. Now we look at verse 13. And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man, which is in heaven. Okay, Jesus here is saying some things that are rather mysterious but John 3 13 is Revealing why Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man You'll find that in first Timothy 2 5 and 6 is Jesus First Peter chapter 3 Turn there a second bear with me first Peter chapter 3 in verse 18 Okay for Christ also has once suffered for sins the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. Okay, this is the one and only Savior. This is the one and only mediator. This is the only one who could come and, with a physical body, provide redemption. He was literally physically killed, but he was made alive by the Spirit of God so he could continue to do the work of our high priest, our shepherd. Okay, so there's other scriptures we could look at for this, but I feel a need to keep moving here. And that is no mere earthly person could ascend to heaven and bring back divine truth and power for us. There's nobody else could reach up and get what is pure, heavenly truth from God and then come back down and share it with us. Somebody had to start there and bring it to us. And there are these specific places in scripture where Jesus is described as the heavenly man. Let me back up a little here. Jesus' domain is heaven. He has been with the Father. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. Gospel of John, chapter one, verse one. And so, he is the only one who can properly bring down the grace the truth in the life to us and if you would restudy what we've talked about in John chapter 1 verses 1 through 5 verses 14 through 18 This is that man This is that man the one who is equal with God became flesh became life and light to men provided grace and truth to men as a matter of fact a little further on there in John chapter 6 and they get into a discussion about the bread that Jesus fed people, and then how Moses gave bread, and into the discussion, look at John chapter six and verse 29, Jesus answered and said unto them, You know, I didn't get this right. Well, yeah, we'll start with verse 29 and we have to read a little further here Jesus answered and said unto them. This is the work of God that you believe on him whom he hath sent So we get the idea he started in heaven, and he sent him. They said, therefore, unto him, what sign do you show us that we may see and believe thee? What work do you do? Now, mind you, he just fed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish, but now they want another miracle. And they quote scripture here, to be very spiritual, of course. Our fathers ate manna in the desert, as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat. And I almost wonder if they're downplaying the miracle they just saw, saying, well, Moses could bring us bread, too. So you've got to do better than that. Well, verse 32, then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which comes down from heaven and gives life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that comes to me shall never hunger, and he that believes in me shall never thirst. But I said unto you that you also have seen me and believe not. All that the Father gives me shall come to me, and he that comes to me I will in no way cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. So let's try to remember what we're commenting on here from John chapter three and verse 13. No man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man, which is in heaven. Now, nobody else could do what Jesus is doing. Nobody else could say what Jesus is saying. Nobody else could have the power That jesus has because he came down from heaven. He is that bread of heaven And i'm fond of another place that I don't think it's talked about very much So i'm going to take a moment first corinthians chapter 15 Verses 45 to 47 First corinthians 15 starting with verse 45 And so it is written, the first man, Adam, was made a living soul. The last, Adam, was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural. And afterward, that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy. The second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. Now, this is a part of a bigger discussion about the resurrection. And I realize this, even though it's in the middle of the discussion, it is telling us a wonderful truth that correlates with John 3, verse 13. My volume might have just gotten bigger, better. Adam is called the earthy man, and all in Adam died because of sin. The second Adam is Jesus Christ, and he's not an earthy man, because he had no sin when he came. His father, his real father was the heavenly father. The Lord from heaven and This gives him authority this gives him power This is the one we can identify as the one and only Savior the one and only Mediator back to that verse in John 3 13 and no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven Even the Son of Man which is in heaven now. There's a phrase that you're not gonna find in newer Bibles The Son of Man is there, but which is in heaven is not there. Now, some of the translations admit that it's in some of the manuscripts. And many have chosen to take it out. Because quite frankly, it's mysterious. And people perhaps think it was added later. But the fact is, it's actually been used in Bibles for hundreds of years. I believe God's been using it. But again, it's mysterious. But we're not going to let that bother us. I think we need to consider what's being said here is that the Son of Man is in heaven. And how can he be here on earth and also in heaven, right? But then this is the heavenly man. This is the Lord from heaven. This isn't just any man. Son of Man is a title that points to Christ's divinity. It points to his affinity with heaven, but it also shows his connection to man on earth. When the term Son of Man is used often, it will show his compassion, that part where he's the mediator. And so his divine connection and his connection with man are both implied in the term son of man. And by the way, Daniel chapter 7, 13 and 14, it's used there. We know that may be the first reference to it. But Jesus, though physically on earth, still maintained a presence before his heavenly father. Yeah, this is different than what we're used to. This is different than anybody else. But John's gospel has already shown us that Jesus can be aware of what's going on in more than one place. He has a presence of things that is not limited by his physical location. Let's go over there to John chapter one and verse 43. Okay, John chapter one, verse 43. The day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee and find Philip and say unto him, follow me. Now, Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip finds Nathanael and says unto him, we have found him of whom Moses and the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip says unto him, come and see. Verse 47, Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and said of him, behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile. Nathanael said unto him, where do you know me? Jesus answered and said unto him, before that Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. And of course, at that moment, he says, Rabbi, you are the son of God. You're the king of Israel. Boy, he just capitulates now over this amazing thing that Jesus was able to see him when he was far away under a tree somewhere when his brother was coming to get him. So there are some other places. I can't take the time tonight to do this. But John 11, verses 1 through 15, Jesus was fully aware of what was going on with Lazarus. He was sick. He let him die. He knew when he died. He says, now we'll go see him. And Matthew 8, 5 through 13, Jesus healed somebody long distance from far away. And Jesus has mastered that here on earth. Why then can we say that he would not say to himself, the Son of Man, which is in heaven, while he's standing here on earth? And I can only imagine the beautiful prayer life he had and how intimate it was with that ability. And though we don't have all of the attributes that Jesus has, we have this wonderful sense to have the presence of God in us. And we are told in Ephesians 1, we're seated in heaven even now. So when we pray, our bodies are here, our heads are here on earth, but our hearts and our minds can transcend to a heaviness. And it's really easy for us to get distracted, but Jesus had no problem with that. So the conclusion of these remarks is that it's important that we seek, receive, defend, Propagate the one true message that has come down to us from God That has come down to us from heaven Now I have a lot of great verses at the end of my notes here, and I don't have the great amount of time But in Matthew 24 verse 35 heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away It gives you some idea of the tremendous scope of what we're dealing with of what's dealing with us when we handle the Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And I might mention in Jude 1, verse 3, that we are to earnestly contend for the faith which was once and for all delivered to the saints. There is a pure truth. It comes from heaven. It has come to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. It has been officially delegated to the apostles. They wrote the New Testament. They preached the word. And people who believe them receive God's spirit. And with the words that they had from Old and New Testament alike, they have brought the gospel down to us today. And Satan hasn't sat down on this and ignored this. He is interfering. He is imitating. He is twisting, deceiving, camouflaging, whatever he can do. Because this one message is worth everything. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to them that believe. And we must keep that gospel pure. And if you have never believed it, please believe it today. Receive it today. And then start learning more of it so you can share it. We need to pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for what you've given. We ask you, please, to give us wonderful thoughts about Jesus, wonderful thoughts about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, wonderful thoughts about the Word of God, and that we would receive it and let it flow through us, and then let it again flow out of us to others. We ask you to give faith where it's needed for those who hear this message. In Jesus' name, amen. God bless you.