Part One John 3:1-21
Before we talk about evangelism, discipleship or leadership training…
We need to talk about personal salvation and being born again.
It’s hard to share something that you don’t possess.
John 3:1-21
John 3:1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews;
John 3:2 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
John 3:2 signs that You do unless God is with him.”
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
John 3:4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be
John 3:4 born, can he?”
John 3:5 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.
John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 3:7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone
John 3:8 who is born of the Spirit.”
John 3:9 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?”
John 3:10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?
John 3:11 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.
John 3:12 If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
John 3:13 No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.
John 3:14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
John 3:15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
John 3:17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
John 3:18 He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of
John 3:18 the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:19 This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
John 3:20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
John 3:21 But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
If you don’t know how the human soul is reborn, then how can I even begin to tell you who I am?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
How can I begin to explain to you that I am the door of the sheep?
John 10:7 So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
John 10:8 All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
John 10:9 I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, but I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Let’s take a closer look at their conversation.
John 3:1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews;
John 3:2 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
John 3:2 signs that You do unless God is with him.”
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Born Again?
G1080 γεννάω / ghen-nah'-o To procreate; figuratively to regenerate: - bear, beget, be born, bring forth, conceive, be delivered.
G509 ἄνωθεν / an'-o-then From above; by implication anew: - from above, again, from the beginning (very first), the top.
See?
G1492 εἴδω / i'-do To see; by implication to know: be aware, behold, consider, look (on), perceive, be sure, understand.
John 3:4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be
John 3:4 born, can he?”
John 3:5 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.
John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
The soul is made up of your mind, will and emotions.
Your soul will be selfish unless it experiences the Spirit of God.
Your spirit must be completely awakened and made alive to the things of God.
Once your spirit is made alive to God, then it can lead your soul to selflessness.
John 3:9 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?”
John 3:10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?
If you don’t know how the human soul is reborn, then how can I even begin to tell you who I am?
Maybe I should show you one of the shadow pictures from the Old Testament.
John 3:14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
John 3:15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
Hey Nicodemus, that’s Me.
Do you remember the story?
Our people were struggling in the wilderness.
They were being selfish, rebellious and disobedient.
Numbers 21:6 The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
Numbers 21:7 So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you; intercede with the Lord,
Numbers 21:7 that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.
Numbers 21:8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten,
Numbers 21:8 when he looks at it, he will live.”
Numbers 21:9 And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the
Numbers 21:9 bronze serpent, he lived.
Nicodemus, that was a pattern and picture of Me.
Isaiah 45:22 “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.”
But instead of enjoying a personal relationship with Me, they exchanged one form of idolatry for another.
We find out what happened to the bronze serpent in 2 Kings 18.
2 Kings 18:1 Now it came about in the third year of Hoshea, the son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah became king.
2 Kings 18:2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Abi
2 Kings 18:2 the daughter of Zechariah.
2 Kings 18:3 He did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.
2 Kings 18:4 He removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that
2 Kings 18:4 Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Hehushtan.
2 Kings 18:5 He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were
2 Kings 18:5 before him.
2 Kings 18:6 For he clung to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses.
Don’t settle for just the pattern or the picture, be sure to enter into a personal relationship with Me.
Are you ready for this?
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
John 3:17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
John 3:18 He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of
John 3:18 the only begotten Son of God.
So, if you’ve been looking for another way, you might as well stop, because I am the only way.
You can’t earn your salvation or be good enough.
You can’t continue to live however you want, you must become empowered from above, learn my ways and walk in them.
Are you ready?
Romans 10:8 But what does it say? “The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” – that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,
Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
Romans 10:10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteous-ness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
I love the way this passage wraps up.
John 3:19 This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
John 3:20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
John 3:21 But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
So, I guess the first question is…
Is Jesus Christ your One?