5. Nicodemus
A handicapped man
John 3:1-21

6. Pharisee (= member of the Sanhedrin);
Who was Nicodemus?:
Pharisee (= member of the Sanhedrin);
A religious group which name means:
the separated ones; the different ones.
- Self righteous! (Matth.5:20)
- Teachers of the Law; very legalistic
- Fanatic: Rom.10:22

7. Rom.10:2-3
2For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge(=in the heart!).
3 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
Problem:
Head knowledge, but no heart knowledge!

8. Nicod. is also mentioned in: 7:50-51 + 19:39-42
7:50-51 He started to speak up to defend Jesus
19:39-42 Helped with Jesus’ burial
God looks for steady growth, not instant perfection!!!

9. Nicodemus and his problem:
John 3:1 is an explanation of Joh.2:24-25
„24 But Jesus would not entrust himself
to them, for he knew all men.25 He did
not need man's testimony about man, for
He knew what was in a man.“
Situation motivation transformation

10. What is in a man???
1) blindness/darkness
2) Dead = no life!!!

11. Ad 1) Blindness and darkness

12. John.3:3 „You can't see and you don’t understand!!!“
Not your physical eyes are important, but your Spiritual eyes!

14. Problem with blindness:
1 Cor.2:14
The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Here is where transformation starts!

15. Nicodemus could not see The Kingdom/Kingship! Luke 17:20-21
Blind: Spiritual!
Nicodemus could not see The Kingdom/Kingship!
Luke 17:20-21
20 Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when
the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied,
"The KINGDOM of God does not come with your
careful observation, 21 nor will people say,
'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom
of God is WITHIN you."

16. We look a lot with our Physical eyes, but for Spiritual things we need Spiritual eyes !
1 Cor.2:12
We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

17. Revelation:
We can have the Word
We can read the Word
We can study the Word
We can discuss the Word
We can preach the Word
We can listen to the Word
But...
God needs to open our eyes to see Christ
in the Word Eph. 1: Cor.4:18

18. Spiritually he Lived in darkness:
Situation, Motivation, Transformation!
He came by night, because he belonged to the night. Darkness was his world!
Joh.3:19-21

19. Ad 2) He was a dead man!!! (=born once)
No Spiritual life = zoe!
John 1:13 “children born not of natural descent (=blood), nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

20. Who looks like his/her parents and in what way?
Question:
Who looks like his/her parents
and in what way?

21. Central problem
Nicodemus was only 50% human!
Nic. was born in the flesh, but not in the Spirit.
Nicodemus was ‘in Adam’, but not ‘in Christ!!! ‘
(Genesis 5:2 + 1.Cor.15:45-50)

22. What does it mean: ‘to be in Adam’?
- one with Adam;
- in his family tree!
- He is your ancestor! You carry around his
DNA in your body!
Gen.5:3

23. Genesis 5:3
3 Adam had been living for a hundred and thirty years when he had a son like himself, after his image (=Adam), and gave him the name of Seth:
(Gen.5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God made man, he made him in the image of God;)

24. I am born in Adam; born as Seth = I am
a trend-Sett(h)er !!!
It means I inherited:
His soul,
His nature
His DNA
His final destination,
His position as a slave
His family tree

25. My inheritance from Adam:
- Spiritual dead
- lost knowledge of God
- dominant negative emotions(fear, anger)
- too many choices (our will!)
- we are rejected humans
- we feel guilty and full of shame
- weak and helpless
WE ARE BORN IN THE WRONG FAMILY!!!

26. What every human already has is an earthly DNA.
What every human needs is a godly DNA:
Divine Nature from Above
Col.2: Petr.1:4
God’s desire for you:
He wants to express himself through you

27. Problem:
Nicodemus just wanted a restoration
but not a transformation!
“It only takes a moment to be born
but a life time to be changed“

28. We need to be born NEW!

30. (Titus 3:3-7).
3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another. 4 But “when the kindness of God our Savior appeared and his love for mankind, 5 He saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior.

31. 1.Cor.15:45-49:
45 So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.
46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.
47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the
second man from heaven.
48As was the earthly man, so are those who are of
the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are
those who are of heaven.

33. Isaiah 44:3-5, NKJV).
3 “’For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring;

34. Ezechiel 36:
25 ¶ I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you
will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your
impurities and from all your idols I will
give you a new heart and put a new spirit
in you; I will remove from you your heart of
stone and give you a heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my Spirit in
you and move you to follow
my decrees and be careful
to keep my laws.”

39. Ad 1) Emptiness - Rom.7:18 = no good!
“I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

40. b) Rom.8:8-9 – no Spirit!
8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. .

41. c)1 Peter 1:18 – empty way of life
“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,”

42. d) 2 Cor.13:5 – without Christ!
“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you— unless, of course, you fail the test?”
This is exactly what Nicodemus did!