APRIL9, 2017
JESUS AND NICODEMUS
INTRODUCTION:
1. In our last lesson we saw how Jesus presented Himself officially in the temple. He, as Malachi had predicted, …came suddenly into his temple (Mal. 3:1), but the manner in which He came left them stunned. As He purged the temple, and drove the money-changers out, His words were as the words of a Reformer: “Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.” He spoke and acted as one having authority. Note what the prophet said: “The Lord…shall suddenly come to HIS temple.” He was calling for repentance and reformation in Israel.
2. The call to repentance fell upon deaf ears, but Jesus went on from there to manifest His Messianic Office by His teaching and miracles.
3. In the last three verses of chapter two we are given a general picture of Jesus activity after the temple incident. There we see that the faith of some was nothing but a form of unbelief, which Jesus, Who knows the hearts of men, could see. (Ch. 2:23-25) He could tell when one’s interest was merely carnal, (See Ch. 6:25); and He was keenly aware when one’s faith was real.(See Luke 8:45)
4. Here we have an example of one who came earnestly enquirring after Him, having been mightily impressed by His teaching, and convinced by His miracles that He had been God-sent.
5. The account of Jesus and Nicodemus serves as an introduction to Jesus’ teaching in the Gospel of John.
I. NICODEMUS CAME TO JESUS FOR AN INTERVIEW. (VERSES 1, 2)
A. JOHN DESCRIBES NICODEMUS AND THE MANNER OF HIS COMING. (VERSES 1, 2a)
1. “There was a man.” First, he was simply a man, like all others; like those whom Jesus thoroughly knew. (Ch. 2:25)
2. “A Pharisee.” He was of that strictest and most powerful sect of the Jew’s religion.
3. “A ruler of the Jews.” He was one of the non-priests of the Sanhedrin, a teacher of the law.
4. He “came to Jesus by night.” This was either out of necessity, or so as not to be seen. In all probability, his days were very full, and he of necessity had to come at night.
B. HIS FAITH AT FIRST APPEARS TO BE NO BETTER THAN OTHERS. (VERSE 2)
1. He addressed Jesus as “Rabbi.”
2. His curiosity was piqued by the miracles that Jesus did.
3. He felt that Jesus must have been not just a rabbi (teacher), but “A teacher sent from God.”
4. He may have suspected more, for the Pharisees looked for Messiah. The Sanhedrin had sent a delegation to enquire of John, if he were the Messiah (Ch. 1:19, 20) Now Nicodemus came to Jesus most likely for the same reason.
a) The Pharisees expected “the Kingdom of God,” i.e. the Kingdom of Messiah.
b) The Kingdom they looked for was temporal and political, and not at all of the spiritual nature of which Jesus will here speak.
5. Jesus knew that his faith was based on miracles, and that his view of Messiah was not as high as it should have been, but He saw him as a sincere seeker.
II. JESUS FAITHFULLY DEALT WITH NICODEMUS, IN ORDER TO BRING HIM TO SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING. (VERSES 3-8)
A. JESUS’ TEACHING CONCERNING THE REQUIREMENTS FOR ENTERING THE KINGDOM WAS REVOLUTIONARY TO NICODEMUS, AND SHOCKING. (VERSES 3, 4)
1. Nicodemus no doubt shared the Jewish view of what qualified one to enter the Kingdom of God.
a) He had always believed that every Jew, being born of the stock of Abraham, had a natural right to the Kingdom.
b) He looked for Messiah, Who, he believed, would lead Israelites into a glorious earthly kingdom.
2. Jesus presented the new birth as the requirement for entering the Kingdom, a qualification that to Nicodemus seemed incredible.
a) Jesus begins His statement with “Verily, verily,” which implies that He foresaw the doubt that would arise in the mind of the hearer.
b) The requirement for entrance into the Kingdom is universal. “Except a man…” i.e. any man (person), every man (person).
c) The essential requirement is a new birth. “Except a man be born again.”
d) This requirement is an absolute necessity. Without it, “…he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” (See I Cor. 2:14)
3. Nicodemus, finding Jesus’ words to be incredible, makes a very natural objection. (Verse 4)
a) He reveals his lack of spiritual understanding in that he understood “born again” as meaning another fleshly birth.
b) He therefore made his age an objection. “How can a man be born when he is old?”
c) He speaks of the physical impossibility of it. “Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
4. Jesus then corrected his false assumption, by stressing the spiritual nature of this new birth. (Verse 5)
a) He begins again with “Verily, verily…” In Verse 3 Jesus perceived the doubt that would be in His hearer; here He intended to deal with that doubt.
b) Nicodemus, like all men, had one fleshly birth, and did not need another. “Except a man be born of water…” (Lit. “out of water”)
c) What he needed was a spiritual birth. “…and of the Spirit.”
B. JESUS ASTOUNDED NICODEMUS AS HE DECLARED THE SPIRITUAL NATURE OF THE KINGDOM. (VERSES 6-8)
1. He showed that mere flesh and blood cannot enter God’s Kingdom. (Verse 6)
a) By flesh He meant man’s natural state by virtue of birth.
b) Whatever is done to it, or it does, it is still “flesh.”
c) Therefore it cannot “see,” or “enter into” God’s Kingdom.d) What is needed is a complete spiritual transformation, which can only happen by a new birth.
2. God’s Kingdom, being spiritual, requires a spiritual birth. (Verse 6b)
a) Just as we get our fleshly nature from our first birth, so we get our spiritual nature from our new birth.
b) The Holy Spirit is the Agent of this new birth.3. This, being according to the nature of things, should have been no marvel to Nicodemus. “Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.” (Verse 7)
4. Notice, in the new birth, the spirit works in the spiritual realm. (Verse 8)
a) The Spirit is as the wind. (In the Greek and Hebrew, the words wind and spirit are identical.)
b) The Spirit works as He wills to work. “The wind (Spirit) bloweth where it (He) listeth.” He moves as He chooses or as He prefers.
c) The Spirit’s work is largely unperceived by natural human senses. “Thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth.”
(1) One can hear the wind, but cannot see it.(2) No one can know the source or the course of the wind.
d) Yet the Spirit’s work is most real and powerful in its effect. “So is every one that is born of the Spirit.”
(1) By the Spirit’s mysterious working, souls are truly regenerated.
(2) And, everyone that is regenerated by the working of the Holy Spirit is changed and renewed.
(3) Though we cannot give a full account, either to ourselves or others, so far as the inward operation, nevertheless in its wonderful effect it is quite discernable.
CONCLUSION:
1. Let us not marvel at the necessity of the new birth. (Verse 7)
2. Marvelous indeed, however, is the mysterious and powerful operation of the Holy Spirit in the new birth.
3. And, we cannot but marvel at the wondrous change that is effected when souls are born again through the sovereign working of the Holy Spirit
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