Well, we come this morning again to the gospel according to John chapter 3. And we'll read the first 16 verses this morning. John 3 verse 1, Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he's old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he? Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be? And Jesus answered and said to him, Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven but He who descended from heaven. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in Him will in Him have eternal life. For 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. Father, thank You for this glorious, blessed Word. Thank You that You've spoken to us in Your Word, in Your Son. Thank You that You've opened our hearts to hear You, to know You, to believe You, to trust in what You have done in Your Son and by Your Spirit. And Lord, as we look into Your Word now, we pray that Your Spirit will be our teacher. That You will give us understanding and that You will transform us as we hear from You. In Christ's name, amen. So last Lord's Day, we looked at the first ten verses of chapter 3 of John's Gospel. And there the evangelist recounted Jesus' conversation with a Pharisee named Nicodemus. Nicodemus said, come to him at night. And he said to him, we know you've come from God because nobody could do the signs you're doing unless God was with him. And Jesus responded by saying this to him. Nobody can enter the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, unless he is born again. Born of the Spirit. Born from above. He's talking about a spiritual rebirth, a work that only God can do in a sinner. So if a man is to enter the kingdom of God, there must be an inner transformation, which no man can work in himself. Has to be a radical change, a radical change in one's understanding, in one's will, in one's desires, in one's affections. One must become a new creature. And he must be brought into union with the risen, ascended, and exalted Christ, who is the source of spiritual life. This is all necessary, we've seen, because as a result of the fall of Adam, all men come into this world spiritually dead, dead in our transgressions and sins, separated from God, who is the source of spiritual life. And only if one is spiritually reborn, made spiritually alive, can he be restored to fellowship with God. So to be born again means that God gives a sinner a new nature. He changes him. He restores spiritual life to one who is spiritually dead. And all are born spiritually dead and stand condemned to eternal punishment unless God acts. So the new birth is the implanting of a living seed within the soul. And it's the creation within us of a new life, a new spiritual life, an eternal life that enables one to believe. So we looked last week at some of the signs that one has been born again. And we talked about them again this morning. He's received Christ. If he has faith in Christ, he believes in his atoning death. He is joyfully submitted to him as Lord. He has sorrow for his sin, and he's turning away from it. He now has a love and a hunger for the Word of God. He has a love of people, especially for the people of God. And this love is manifested in a compassion for and a love and service for others, giving of oneself for others. This new birth is manifested in becoming like Christ, becoming more like Him each day. It doesn't happen all at once. It happens over the course of a believer's lifetime. God transforms us by His Word and by the work of His Spirit into Christ-likeness, into conformity to His image. And so the one who's been born again is in regular communion with God. He comes to the Father in prayer. He has the peace of God. He has the assurance of an inheritance in glory. He has the joy of fellowship with God. And he now, in his life, manifests the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. So now in verse 11, the dialogue with Nicodemus becomes more of a discourse. Jesus is still speaking to Nicodemus, who is still very much in confusion, because in his fallen mind and in his human reason, he couldn't understand the things Jesus was saying. Divine things. Things of God. And he couldn't grasp them yet. He'd not yet been born again. He was still spiritually dead. And the things of God can only be understood by one who is spiritually alive. So, turning now to verse 11. Jesus is continuing to speak to Nicodemus. But he's now using plurals in his address to Nicodemus. He says, truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen. Now, you recall when Nicodemus approached Jesus He didn't come up to him and say, I know. He said, we know. We know that you have come from God as a teacher. And I believe he was referring to those who had seen the signs and believed in his power. But now Jesus responds using the same kind of formula. We speak. of what we know. So who's we here? Well, there's no consensus on this. Some believe Jesus was speaking of himself and John the Baptist. Others of himself and his disciples, those who were with him at the time. Some believe Jesus was including the prophets of God in this we that we speak of. And some would say that Jesus is simply and rather sardonically mimicking the plural that Nicodemus had used when he said, we know you must have come from God. And there's some merit, I believe, to that latter point. But let us understand the things of which Jesus was speaking were divine truths. known only within the Godhead. They aren't things that could be known by human reason or human intellect. So, I believe Jesus was speaking here. In using this term, we speak of Himself and His Father in heaven. Now, why do I say that? Well, in John chapter 5, in verse 19, Jesus says this to some of the Jews who were already opposing Him. Jesus answered and was saying to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of himself unless it's something he sees his father doing. For whatever the father does, these things the son also does in like manner. Father loves the son, and he shows him the things that he himself is doing. And the Father will show him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. So understand, Jesus was not alone when He came into the world. His Father was with Him every step of the way. And in chapter 5, verse 30, Jesus said this, I can do nothing on my own initiative. As I hear, I judge. And my judgment is just because I'm not seeking my own will, but the will of Him who sent me." Now again, you notice the union of father and son here. Verse 31, if I alone testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There's another who testifies of me. And I know that the testimony which he gives about me is true. And then he says, you've sent to John and he's testified to the truth. But now look what Jesus says, But the testimony that I receive is not from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. And then verse 37, And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. In John 10.30 Jesus said, I and the Father are one. John 14.10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, but the Father abiding in me does his works." So what we see here is a unity and harmony between and among Father, Son, and Spirit that is beyond our comprehension. It's a perfect harmony of will and purpose. So when Jesus speaks of the knowledge that He possesses, in the plural here, He's likely referring to that perfect knowledge and harmony that has eternally existed within the Godhead. Well then Jesus says to Nicodemus, verse 11, you, plural, do not accept our testimony. And he continues with the plural here. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? So throughout he's speaking in the plural here. The you is plural all throughout these two verses. And this shows that Jesus' words here are intended to go beyond Nicodemus and apply to all men, apply to all who ultimately reject him. Now think about Nicodemus and just imagine you were there that day. He's trying to understand how it is a man could be born again. That's his big question here. He's not focused on the fact that God can and does cause men to be born again when he makes them spiritually alive. And he's indicated some hesitance, some doubt in terms of accepting what Jesus was saying here. And Jesus says to him, and Jesus understood this, Nicodemus was not believing it. And Jesus said, if you won't believe these earthly things, how are you going to believe these heavenly things? What's he talking about? What are the earthly things and what are the heavenly things? Well, in speaking of the earthly things, Jesus is speaking of things which, though heavenly in their character and origin, occur on the earth in the experience of men, which are part of each man's earthly experience. Things like the knowledge of sin, which we gain here on the earth. The need for repentance, which both Jesus and the Baptist were preaching. And now, what Jesus says, the new birth. It happens here on the earth. So, if Nicodemus won't believe Him regarding those things, how will he ever accept the heavenly truths of the relationship between Father, Son, and Spirit? Of God's eternal plan of redemption of sinners? How is he going to understand those things? How is he going to understand the atonement for sins that can only come through faith in Jesus and His death on the cross? These are all heavenly things that lay outside the sphere of men's observations and their life experience. These are things of the mind of God, the relationship of father and son, and the plan of redemption, God's eternal purpose. These things would never have occurred to any man's finite mind unless God illumines us. So if a man won't believe things which happen on the earth and which pertain to our earthly lives, how is he going to believe the mysteries of heaven, the Trinity? How is he going to believe that if he won't believe he's a sinner and in need of an atonement that he can't make? 1 Corinthians 2.14. A natural man, that's an unregenerate man, a man who's not been born again, does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. He can't understand them because they're spiritually appraised and he's spiritually dead. So no man will believe the things of God, the heavenly things, unless his mind is opened by God. And that's what it means to be born again. Those who've been born again will recall when we were just as Nicodemus was, when these things didn't make sense to us, when we didn't comprehend them and didn't believe them. And those who have not been born again are still as Nicodemus was. They don't understand these divine truths and they don't believe them. They don't make any sense to them. And if this describes you, you must cry out to God, Lord, open my heart and my mind. I know you're there. Please open my heart, open my mind to know you, to know and understand these truths. And again, our understanding will be limited in this life. But our faith should not be limited. So Jesus is speaking here. Now think about this. Here's two men talking, but one is speaking as one who possessed divine knowledge. The other is just a man. Jesus is speaking as one who possessed divine knowledge because why? Because he came from heaven itself. He came down from heaven. He repeatedly affirmed this truth throughout his public ministry. And in verse 13 now, Jesus is going to declare His divine credentials to Nicodemus. He says, No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended from heaven is the Son of Man. Only in heaven is there true wisdom. And no man has ever gone to heaven and obtained heavenly knowledge and come back to earth and shared that wisdom and knowledge with men. So only if one had been present in the throne room of heaven, in God's throne room, could he have first-hand knowledge of heavenly things. Those heavenly things Jesus is talking about. It was in heaven that the divine decrees were issued. An eternity passed and Jesus now declared He had come from heaven. Heaven came down and glory filled our hearts. And He possessed knowledge of the things of heaven, complete knowledge. So let us understand, and let me say this again, neither human reason nor human intellect can obtain insight into divine truths. It's not possible. That's what all the false religions of the world are trying to do. They're trying to use human intellect and human reason to know God, to know the divine. God's decree that He would redeem a people for Himself that He had chosen is beyond the realm of man's knowledge unless and until what? Unless and until it's revealed to him by God. And unless God reveals these eternal truths to men, they will and do invent their own religions. That's why you have all of these false religions and imaginary gods, their own imaginations as to the way of a heavenly life after death. They can't see the truth of God's eternal decrees because they're spiritually dead. They can't see the truth of His eternal plans and their eternal destiny. because they've not heard Him, because they can't hear Him. Unless a man is born again, Jesus said, he cannot even see the kingdom of God, much less enter it. So, what do people do if they don't believe in God, if they don't believe the Word of God, they rest on man-made notions, man-made ideas of heavenly things. While the only true knowledge regarding heavenly things is that which has been revealed by God in His Word, through His prophets, through the apostles, and through His Son. And when the decree of the Father was made, That decree made in eternity past that He would send His Son into the world to become a man and bear the curse of our sins and redeem us from our sin. The Son was there. When God made that decree in eternity past, the Son was there. When you were chosen in Him, the Son was there. When you were predestined to adoption as sons of God, the Son was there. descended from heaven was now speaking to Nicodemus. Son came down from heaven, so he was able to testify of these heavenly things. He could speak of heavenly things because heaven had been his home for all eternity. Still was his true home. It's our true home. It's the true home of all who believe. We're just not there yet. So in verse 9, Nicodemus had asked Jesus, how can these things be? And now Jesus showed Nicodemus the means by which a sinner is healed of his sinful condition and reconciled to God and have eternal life with Him. And to illustrate this, Jesus now drew on an event which occurred in the Old Testament in the wilderness as the sons of Jacob were making their way to the eastern shore of the Jordan River. All recorded in Numbers chapter 21. So here they are grumbling again as they did in the wilderness, though God had saved them from bondage in Egypt and had brought them miraculously out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, and had fed them with manna from heaven and gave them water to drink in the desert. Now the people, Numbers 21 5, spoke against God and Moses. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food that You have provided us. Well, the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many of the people of Israel died. So the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you. So they recognized their sin, and they asked him, Intercede with the Lord that He may remove the serpents from us. Moses interceded for the people. And then the Lord said to Moses, You make a fiery serpent, made it of bronze, and set it on a standard, and it shall come about that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live. And so Moses made a bronze serpent and he set it on the standard. And it came about that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. Now, Jesus is revealing to Nicodemus he is far more than just a witness from heaven. That he is the Savior himself. So Jesus said to him, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. So, in order to help Nicodemus to understand the way of eternal life, Jesus employed this Old Testament illustration. Now, understand, the serpent was not a type of Christ. That's a false, gross error. And it wasn't the serpent that cured any of the sons of Jacob. It was because they believed God, and God cured them. They demonstrated their belief by their obedience to what He'd said. So what did Jesus mean then by the words, the Son of Man must be lifted up? Well, people come at this from two angles. Was He referring to the cross? Or to His exaltation to the right hand of the Father? Was He referring to both? Well, in John's Gospel, the term to be lifted up always refers to the cross. See it here, John 8, 28, John 12, verses 32 and 34. But in Acts, chapter 2, 33 and chapter 5, verse 31, the same term is used to refer to Christ's exaltation to the right hand of the Father. So what is the Lord saying to us here? Well, the reality is that in God's plan of redemption, Christ's cross is never thought of in isolation from His bodily resurrection, from His ascension, from His coronation. His cross was the path to His crown. Faith in His cross is a sinner's path to a crown of righteousness and glory. Your whole destiny depends upon do you believe in Him? Do you trust in what He did on the cross? Now Isaiah 52, the prophet there brings together both of these ideas. Being physically lifted up on the cross and being exalted to the right hand of the Father. Isaiah 52, 3, Behold, My servant will prosper. He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. So the redemptive truth that is proclaimed by our Lord here in this verse is that the Son of Man must be lifted up on the cross. That Christ's death was an absolutely necessary part of God's plan of redemption. There wasn't some other way. He had to die. He had to shed His blood as a substitute for sinners because the wages of sin is death. And because without the shedding of blood in God's providence, there is no forgiveness. And because no other man could be an acceptable offering to God for either his own sins or the sins of another, because all have sinned. We're all blemished and stained by sin. We can't atone for our own sins or those of anyone else. So in the wilderness, the sons of Jacob were facing physical death because of these serpents. But Jesus is showing us, as Don mentioned this morning, all mankind is condemned to eternal death because of sin. And He came and died. He came and died for us so that we wouldn't be sent to hell for all eternity. Serpent, who was lifted up, had no power to heal. It was a bronze statue. But the serpent pointed to Christ who does have this power. And the healing He provides is not merely physical. It is not merely temporary. It is spiritual and it is eternal. And those who believe in Him who was lifted up on the cross will have eternal life. The lifting up of the Son of Man on the cross. was not one possible remedy that God might have chosen. It was the only possible remedy for the condition of fallen man. This was the only way that the demands of God's justice and righteousness could be met. That's what Jesus is telling Nicodemus. That's what He's telling all of us. So Jesus prayed knowing His return to glory The glory He had with the Father before the world was, would be accomplished by His being lifted up on the cross. In verse 15, whoever believes in the Son of God will in Him have eternal life. Well, there it is. You want eternal life? Well, you've got to believe in Him. But you're not going to believe unless He opens your heart. And the way that tends to happen is a person recognizes their unworthiness of Him and of eternal life and cries out to Him. John's gospel, the term eternal life or life eternal, as some translate it, is used 17 times. And it's never in contrast with eternal death. There is no such thing as eternal death. It's not in contrast to the sinner being annihilated out of existence. Eternal life is always contrasted with eternal punishment, with eternal separation from God. God's the source of life. If you don't have that, you are eternally separated from And you undergo eternal punishment for your sin. Life eternal is spiritual life. Yes, we'll get our glorified body back, but the life he's talking about is spiritual. And it begins where? with the new birth. It begins when a man is born again, as Jesus has said to Nicodemus. And it can only be received. It cannot be earned or acquired. It can only be received as a gift of God. No man can make himself spiritually alive. And once one is made spiritually alive, you want to hear some joyous news? It's forever. It's for all eternity. Spiritual life is eternal. Once you have it, it cannot be taken away. And so God, being rich in mercy, as Paul tells us in Ephesians 2, because of His great love with which He loved us, sent His one and only Son into the world so that we might live for eternity through Him. Verse 16, For 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. One writer says, this is the golden text which has endeared itself to hearts of all of God's children. We see it at the football games. We used to see it in the 70s. This guy with his big Afro wig that was in rainbow shades. And John 3.16, if somebody was kicking an extra point, there he was, right behind the goalposts, telling people who were worshiping their football team, here's the one you need to worship. Here's the one you need to believe in. John 3.16, Martin Luther said, these words flow like milk and honey. Words which are able to make the sad happy, the dead alive, if only the heart believes them firmly. Another writer says, what a revelation for Nicodemus, who all his life had relied on his own works, as the world does today. No human mind, folks, could have known this. No human mind could have conceived of this unless God had revealed it in His Son. So the ground of God's saving work in Christ, the reason that He predestined us to adoption as His sons was His love. God is love, John says. In chapter 1, verse 12, the apostle wrote that to as many as received Him, He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name. In 1st John 3.1 the apostle writes, See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God. And such we are. We're called children of God because of His love for us. And it's not because of any... He didn't look at us and say, Boy, what a guy he is. What a woman she is. He looked and saw the filth of our sin and saved us. Because love in God's eyes and in God's character is something different than we conceive of it. 1 John 4, 7, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God. There's that phrase again. And knows God. The one who does not love does not know God. You see, God is love and that's what He communicates to us. For God is love, John says. By this the love of God was manifested in us that God has sent His one and only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation, the atonement for our sins. And finally, 1 John 4, 16 and 19. We have come to know and have believed that the love which God has for us, God is love. God is love. That doesn't mean He tolerates every sin we want to invent, as the unbelievers would claim. No, God hates sin. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in Him. Verse 19, we love because He first loved us. Well, now Jesus said to Nicodemus, God so loved the world, the cosmos. This word has several different meanings. It's used several different ways in the New Testament world. Sometimes it's used to speak of this planet. Sometimes it's used to speak of the whole universe. Sometimes it's used to speak of all the people of the world. Sometimes it's used to specify both Jews and Gentiles. Sometimes the word world is used to speak of those who are opposed to Christ. John 15, 18, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world because of this, the world hates you. 1 John 2, 15, do not love the world or the things in the world. So here Jesus is saying to us, the Father sent His Son to suffer and to die because He loved the world. So what's Jesus saying to us? How are we to understand the meaning of the word world as He uses it here? Which of the many possible meanings of the word world, kosmos, did Jesus intend here? Could God really love the sinful, wicked, rebellious world and those who inhabit it? The answer is yes. Could He love a world that hates Him? The answer is yes. We have to remember first what love is as God defines it. Love is the self-sacrificial giving of oneself for the benefit of another or others without regard to their worthiness or unworthiness. Without regard to the worthiness of the recipients of that love. It's loving the unloving. Loving those who don't love you. That's how Scripture teaches us about love. God gave His one and only Son, whom He loves, to suffer and die on the cross for people who didn't love Him, for people who were His enemies. This is a kind of love that's beyond our comprehension. All who have been and are being saved are called out of that evil world that hates God. That's where He's getting all of His people, out of this world that hates Him. Romans 5, 8, God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, enemies of God, Christ died for us. He knew who He was dying for. It wasn't after we did some meritorious work that the favor of God shined on us. No, it was while we were yet sinners, His enemies, people who hated Him. Ephesians 2.4 again, But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our sins, spiritually dead and living in sin. He made us alive together with Christ. It's by grace you have been saved. And people want to deny God even that glory, even in our churches. We did something. We thought something. We accepted something. He did it. When we pray for the lost, we need to pray that God will do something. Because there's nothing anybody we pray for can do. I suggest to them they cry out to God, but God has to do the work, 100% of it. Because of His great love, God in Christ reached into the fallen world where we all, Jew and Gentile, are sinners, wicked people who fall short of God's standard of glory and righteousness. While we were yet sinners, God demonstrated His love for us. all of God's children were called out of the fallen world. Yes, the world remains opposed to God, but we were all once part of it. No exceptions. And because of God's great love, He rescued us out of it. And some don't even want to give Him the glory or the credit. Let us never doubt, apart from God's love, no one would be saved. This has to remain incomprehensible to us. We don't love as God loves. But it's clear in the father's act of giving his son, who humbled himself and took on the appearance of sinful flesh, and subjected himself to the wicked governments of Israel and Rome, who subjected himself to scorn and suffering, here we have the best example of love, the self-sacrificial giving of one to another that could ever be found." Will you really turn away from this? Paul wrote to Titus, remembering his own wicked past. Titus 3.3, For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. That describes us all at one time. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy. How? By the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Spirit. By giving you new life. By causing you to be born of the water and the Spirit. which He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. God's love came down despite the fact that none, not one of the recipients of that love in any way deserved that love. This is the love of God for His people. And if you've been blessed by that love, may you live your life in a spirit of gratitude for that gift, with a heart filled with love for Him who saved you. And I say it again, if you've not received that blessing of the new birth, and you recognize your unworthiness to enter into His kingdom, I beseech you again to cry out to Him, to come to Him and be saved. And we'll continue our look into this blessed passage next week, Lord willing. Well, let's take a moment and meditate on this blessed Word that has been spoken to us this morning by our Lord, this great eternal truth. Let us bow before Him in gratitude, and then let us examine ourselves, and then we will gather at His table.