John Chapter 3 Verses 10 – 12

 The concept and necessity of being born again is absolutely

discoverable in the Old Testament. Jesus is challenging Nicodemus,

who no doubt had a commanding knowledge of the law and the

prophets, to put this together!

 Ezekiel 36:26-27, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit

within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you

a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk

in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

 David prayed in Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me!” Check this one out, Psalm

87:5-6, “And of Zion it will be said, ‘This one and that one were born

in her; And the Most High Himself shall establish her.” The Lord will

record, when He registers the peoples; ‘This one was born there.’

Selah.”

 Nicodemus was an expert, THE teacher of these things, and yet this

concept was missed on him! If Nicodemus had connected any of these

scriptures, he could have understood quickly that Jesus was not

speaking of a literal, physical birth, but a birth of and in the Spirit!

 It’s no different than today. Romans 1 details out what can be and is

plainly knowable about God is somehow being missed or rejected by

those that claim to be teachers of God’s Word. It’s absurd what some

so-called Christians today are teaching from pulpits all over the world.

Plainly compromising or contradicting what is clear in the Word of

God…

 May I take the opportunity to remind this church that no matter how

unpopular the Word of God gets in today’s popular opinion, we must

and will hold to it until the end. Jesus is well pleased with the faithful

church in the time of the end as he says in Revelation 3:8, “I know

your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can

shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not

denied My name.”

 So, Jesus says if I’ve shared with you things that on your own you can

understand but don’t, what are you going to do with the things of the

Spirit that must be received through humility, surrender, AND

intellect? That’s where the unsearchable riches of the wisdom of God

are found!

 And, notice, Jesus connects receiving and understanding with

believing. See that? Nicodemus may very quickly rebut with, “It’s not

that I don’t believe, I just don’t understand,” and Jesus would quickly

respond, “Then how can you believe?” This is why we must study,

learn, and grow in our knowledge and understanding of the Lord and

the Word of God because in so doing we come to believe!

John Chapter 3 Verse 13

 That’s a bold statement! First of all, in context, Jesus is saying that

being born from above, being born again, is something only He can do

for me. It’s not something I can do; it’s something that is done for me.

My responsibility is to receive what Jesus is saying and in so doing,

receive what Jesus has done!

 But, yea, bold statement! What about Enoch? What about Elijah? In

Genesis 5:24, the Bible says, “And Enoch walked with God; and he

was not, for God took him.” And in 2 Kings 2:11 we read, “As they

continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with

horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a

whirlwind into heaven.”

 This statement by Jesus begs a deeper or different explanation

regarding these two Old Testament rapture-like occurrences. We could

go on and on with possibilities. Such that they were taken to Paradise

(think Jesus and the thief on the cross), that the heaven Elijah was

taken into was not the third heaven (think Paul’s vision), on and on.

 The point is clear. Neither of these two Biblical characters were taken

into the abiding presence of God because they were both sinful. And

the payment, the atonement for their sin, and the sin of the whole

world, would be dealt with at the cross and resurrection of Jesus

Christ, which had not yet happened. At any rate and anyway you want

to approach the topic of Enoch and Elijah, Jesus is telling Nicodemus

that He is the only way for any of us to be in heaven.

John Chapter 3 Verses 14 – 15

 This is the second of two masterful examples, perfect pictures, that

Jesus uses to help Nicodemus understand this spiritual subject of being

born again. The first was the wind. Something that we don’t do but

something that happens to us… The wind just blows. We see it, we

hear it, we feel it, we see its effect, but we can’t explain to you all

aspects of it… It is just the wind and by accepting that, it’s sensical.

Makes complete sense…, and yet there remains an element of mystery

about it.

 While Israel wandered in the wilderness they complained continuously

against God. As God fed them every day, gave them water in the

midst of a desert every day, their complaints continued. Just like us

‘mericans. There is something pathetic about someone who does

nothing but complain… When in reality, we have far more than any of

us need…

 So, God gave them a glimpse of worse times. He sent snakes into their

camps and once they were bitten they were doomed to death. But God

gave an antidote. One that for all sensical reasons, didn’t make

sense… He told Moses, and this is Numbers 21:8-9, “Then the Lord

said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall

be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So,

Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a

serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he

lived.”

 Makes NO sense!? Call the doctors! Create a vaccine! Breed some

eagles! HA! But this, what? How is that supposed to heal all these

dying people? Moses answer, “I don’t know. But it does…” All the

remedies that make sense, someone would be quite honored and proud

to brief you on…, but people are not getting better. There’s this one…

Just look to this fiery serpent on a pole… Man, you are so narrow

minded and simple! Ok… I have to agree… but do you want to live?

 Just like that, the healing wasn’t something that could come by

worldly wisdom or societal sense, it had to come by faith in something

that was beyond understanding, maybe even foolish to the smartest

doctor in the room… But just like that, faith in the Son of God, the

Savior of the world, is the remedy for death and the key to eternal life.

Not something I do but something that is done for me… All any of us

have to do is look to Jesus!

John Chapter 3 Verse 16

 The plain and simply yet nonsensical and mysterious gospel. In this

statement is the key to eternal life and the solution of man’s

responsibility and God’s sovereignty. In this statement is the revelation

that salvation has come to the whole world, to anyone… In this

statement is the unveiling of God’s impossible love for you and for me

that whosoever, that He so loved the world, that no matter what you’ve

done or where you’ve come from or even what you will become,

God’s love is for YOU. That He loves YOU…

 So much so that He gave himself, His only begotten Son, that

whosoever, (and here comes my free will responsibility), whosoever

believes in Him, which as we’ve already learned means whosoever

accepts and understands like the wind Jesus Christ as their personal

remedy for all things pertaining to death, will inherit and be given

everlasting life.

 Everlasting life is not just eternal life. It speaks of a quality of life.

That you live ten years of life as God would have you to live and in so

doing, man, you find love, joy, goodness, kindness, longsuffering,

strength, on and on. Rather than living a long life that is filled with

defeat after difficulty after defeat again… Complaining and criticality

and negativity… How can anyone who bears those characteristics

claim to have Everlasting life now…!? The glimpse and even maybe

more than that (only a glimpse) of the life that is to come, right now, in

this life…

John Chapter 3 Verse 17

 You’d think it should be the other way around. After all I’ve done,

after it all, God sends His armies into my life on a rescue mission

rather than a kinetic kill operation… This is the wonder of the love of

God. This is the simple Gospel of nonsense that offers, gifts, and

delivers everlasting life…

 Mother Teresa is one of the most honored and admired historical

figures in our time. Born in 1910 and passed away in 1997, she was an

Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun who founded countless

missions, hospitals and charities throughout her life. She was awarded

the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and was beatified by Pope John Paul II

in 2003 and canonized as a Catholic saint by Pope Francis on

September 4 th , 2016. Now faithful Catholics can actually pray to her to

intercede for them in heaven to the ear of the Father.

 She also held to an inclusive, universalist view of other religions,

emphasizing love and service over active evangelism. She famously

stated that her goal was not to convert people to Christianity, but to

help them encounter God within their own traditions. In her book,

“Life in the Spirit,” she wrote, “I’ve always said we should help a

Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a

Catholic become a better Catholic.” Her soteriology is problematic

given the words of Jesus…

 Jeffrey Dahmer killed 17 people and confessed to eating parts of four

of them. Months before he was put to death, he underwent a widely

publicized conversion to Christianity in 1994. He was baptized on

May 10 th , 1994. According to the Pastor who baptized and

subsequently counseled Dahmer, his conversion was authentic.

 He wrote in his book, “Dark Journey, Deep Grace,” that Dahmer

desired no sympathy or release from prison but that he simply carried

intense remorse following his conversion. He wrote, “He wished he

could do something for the families of his victims to make it right, but

there was nothing he could do.”

 Is it odd to you that based on biblical, Jesus narrated, Christianity and

salvation, that there’s a better chance that Dahmer is in glory than

Teresa? For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the

world, which is completely qualified to be completely condemned, just

like me, just like you, but that the world through Him might be saved.

 Grace upon grace. Not of works. Mysterious and other worldly

because it makes no sense to us… But the wind blows. And there are a

lot, in fact all of us, dying… But Jesus has done the work of taking

away sin, that by looking to Him, you would inherit eternal life, and

live today and the rest of your days, everlasting…