Scripture:
John 3:1-6, 8-21 NKJV
[1] There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. [2] This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” [3] Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” [4] Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” [5] Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. [6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
[8] The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” [9] Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” [10] Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? [11] Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. [12] If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? [13] No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. [14] And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, [15] that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. [16] For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. [17] For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. [18] “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. [19] And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. [20] For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. [21] But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Observation:
I have always found this portion of scripture rather interesting. A prominent religious leader could see that there was something different about Jesus, so much so that he made a decision to come to HIM. Afraid of what the others might think, he came under the cover of the night. I feel like he knew that if the crowd saw him seeking a deeper understanding he would be ostracized. The conversation that took place as a result was honestly more than he had anticipated. So simple yet so profound. One of the first things I noticed is that Nicodemus called Jesus, “Rabbi,” and acknowledged that HE had come from GOD. That was a big step. You see Nicodemus had been studying the scripture for a lot of years and had a lot of things misplaced. He had been taught but it was incorrect. I believe that’s why Jesus didn’t waste any time blowing his mind. You see Nicodemus had been taught to rely on his own ability to produce righteousness as a pathway to heaven, but Jesus knew that it would never work. He was seen as a prominent man. If anyone had seen him there having that conversation things would not go well. The response that was given to the opening of the conversation was simple and to the point, “Most assuredly, I say to you unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of GOD.” That statement was beyond the understanding of Nicodemus. He had been taught that it was about how he conducted himself, he had been taught that if you keep the flesh in subjection, then heaven was a sure destination. So as this conversation got started the SAVIOR came right out of the gate by changing the way Nicodemus was thinking. In a sense what was said is the man you are right now won’t make it. You have to become a new man. One who is filled with the Holy Spirit. As that thought processed the mind of Nicodemus, he just couldn’t bring understanding to it, “How can that happen?” It didn’t make any sense to him, so Jesus wanted to make sure he understood before the conversation came to an end, “Most assuredly, I say to you unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of GOD. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of Spirit is spirit. It was a whole new concept to Nicodemus. It was honestly more than he could comprehend. His mind was trapped in a way of thinking that he just couldn’t get past, “How can this be?” It was time to dive a little deeper, time to explain it in a way that would be better understood without exposing everything, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not know these things?” At that point Jesus made a decision to go to what Nicodemus might better understand. Moving forward to verses 14 through 17 , HE goes back to the old testament to explain what should have been seen by the teachers of Israel, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the SON of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in HIM should not perish but have eternal life,” getting right down to the very center of the gospel in verse 16, the only verse you really need to know to share the gospel with it all else falls into place, “For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only begotten SON, that whoever believes in HIM should not perish but have eternal life.” That’s the cornerstone of the gospel. But it doesn’t stop there. The statement moves forward, “For GOD did not send HIS SON into the world to condemn the world but that the world through HIM might be saved. I want you to see this because it’s important, the word might is strategically placed, it did not land there by accident. Nothing in the bible is an accident. There is no condemnation in what is being said. I’m just reading from the word, and not glancing over anything. Jesus did not come to condemn, but to be the final sacrifice. However that’s not where the story ends either. Verses 18 through 21 are just as important. It all has to do with whether or not you truly believe. What is explained in the following 4 verses is what happens once you have an encounter with Christ HIMSELF. The darkness is exposed by the light. Those who love the darkness will do their best to silence the light, but I want to tell you something no matter how dark it is there is no power greater than the light.
Application:
I don’t like it when the scripture is taken out of context, but that’s what those who want to twist it do. I have seen it for years and frankly it makes me sick. The only way to truly understand what is being said by the LORD is to read it for yourself. I say that because it’s so clear that there are a lot of people who are deceived. The power of rebirth is that you become a new man. Romans chapter 13 verses 11 through 14 tell us to, “Put on the LORD Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” A reborn life will have different desires. If you are still doing things with malicious intent you may check where you stand with Christ. An encounter with Christ changed my life. It brought the darkness in my life into the light and forced me to do something about it. My life is not the same. My desire is not to see others fail. Or to think I am any better. We are all on equal ground. If you have elevated yourself or anyone else other than Christ, you might want to go back to the scripture and take an honest look at who you are. You see the problem is that the deception is not going to grow to be less, in fact it will increase as the day of HIS return gets closer. The strong hold will strangle out the truth. The truth is that if you have no love for people you don’t know the love of the father, and I can back that up with scripture. You see the darkness will do its best to push the light out. But here is what needs to be known, the darkness has no power over the light. The truth exposes every dark deed you think you are getting away with the intentions of your heart will be seen. It’s what he came for. Religion won’t do it. You have to be made new. The bible says you will know a tree by its fruit. When we only care about being seen as good but our heart is still cold and full of heat we need to look at what we are truly living for. Today we need to bring our lives into the light, and allow Jesus to search the intentions of them. David had a heart like GOD, his prayer was that it be searched by the LORD, and changed as needed. It’s time for the covers of the church to be pulled back. It’s time for the light to sweep over our hearts, to eliminate all the darkness that is found. It’s time for the church to return to its first love and remove the corruption. We are the light of the world. That means we are to expose those who are in the dark. If we are going to live as though the word of GOD is true we can’t pick and choose what we live by. Over the next few weeks the light will be brought through this SOAP. It’s time to buckle up, and come into the light.
Prayer:
Father, we surrender our lives to you. We want your truth, we want to be a reflection of who you are. Our desire is not to be glorified, but to glorify what you have done. The light that you brought into our lives has changed us. Our hearts are different, and if they are not we ask that you continue to shape them until the day you return. We abandon who the enemy has told us we are, and do not make any provision for our flesh. We do not want to abuse your grace. You have said to sin no more. Yet we as a church continue to live in it. When it should break our hearts. We are no longer bound by those chains. We don’t need to be noticed or acknowledged. What we want is for your light to bring out the truth. Expose the wickedness that is in the church. So that we can get back to the simple gospel. You are worthy of our worship. You are the only one worthy of it. You have our undivided attention. We want to speak only what you would have said. It’s in the mighty name of Jesus we pray amen.