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Lesson – Jesus’ Conversation with Nicodemus, Part VIII, John 3:12-21
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews came to Jesus by night expecting to have a conversation with Him about things theological.
Most likely he had hoped to engage Jesus in intellectual discussions about various matters focusing upon the reports of the miracles of Jesus of which Nicodemus had heard.
Many times we make plans expecting other people to fall in line with our plans but most times we are disappointed.
Jesus did not cooperate with Nicodemus in discussing theological or intellectual matters because he deemed Nicodemus to be unfit to engage in that kind of discussion for he was not of that realm.
Jesus immediately pointed Nicodemus to the need for God to act upon him that he might enter that realm.
Nicodemus, except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus, except a man be born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus you will know nothing about heavenly things unless someone tells you, someone who has ascended to heaven and came down from heaven.
But I’m here to tell you Nicodemus, God has found a way for you to know of heavenly things and God has found a way for you to enter into His kingdom.
And I am that Way.
So Jesus speaks the glorious message of John 3:16 to Nicodemus for on this nighttime occasion this wonderful truth enters the earth’s realm for the first time.
Nicodemus, Listen to this for this message is God’s invitation to you to live.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Jesus brings to the mind of Nicodemus the epitome, the highest of the highest exhibition of love that can be expressed, a love which can only come from God.
And that love is presented to Nicodemus in the person with whom he is face to face, our beloved Lord Jesus Christ.
Nicodemus, God is giving you the truth, and that truth is that knowledge of heavenly things is only found by how you are related to Jesus Christ.
Jesus says in John 3:16 that God so loved.
In other words God’s love is so vast and unending it reached us while we were yet sinners.
Not as his children, but as enemies of God, aliens from his grace.
In Romans 5:8 Paul writes, "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us."
And again in Jer. 31:3, "Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee."
God’s love is measureless, able to extend to the uttermost limits to include the giving of his only begotten Son.
For God so loved the world.
His love extended to all of the world.
All humankind. There is no place that his love does not reach.
You can tell all humankind that God loves them and there is none of them that is beyond the reach of God's love.
No limited atonement from our Father's love as some would have you believe but his love is unlimited in its extent.
God's love was manifested in giving.
For God so loved the world that he gave.
Love, real love always seeks the highest interest of others.
It is unselfish. It looks out for others and not itself.
Love cannot be contained and will burst forth in giving.
God did not look for a cut-rate way to pay the wages of sin.
He gave the best for you and me and the whole world.
He did not hold back but freely delivered up Christ, his only begotten son, even to the death of the horrible cross.
His love purposed to have a people that should not perish.
His love is designed to be successful and will bring fruit into His harvest.
Jesus is the one who saves people from their sins, and writes their name in his book, and secures for them a place in the family of God and a home that is eternal.
God is a fruitful God and he will have his harvest.
He says in this verse that "whosoever believeth in him should not perish."
Although God is not willing that any should perish, many will not participate in that harvest, just as many were not healed of the serpent's bite in Moses’ day.
They did not believe in the simple message to look and be healed but tried to pay the wages themselves.
Many will perish. Many will remain "filthy still."
But God will have a harvest because many will believe on Jesus Christ and trust their destiny to him.
His harvest will be a lasting one and will never spoil or waste because he promises an everlasting life to all who believe on Jesus Christ.
John 3:16 contains 25 words and summarizes the whole gospel story.
It begins with God, who had no beginning; is centered with the word "Son", and ends with that, which has no ending, everlasting life.
This is as it should be, for everything of eternal worth centers around the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
God has no plan, no program for this world or any other, no purpose for the universe in time or in eternity, which does not center on his Son. All of our thinking that centers on Christ is in harmony with the mind of God.
Any thinking that is not Christ centered is out of harmony with the mind of God.
And Jesus continues with Nicodemus in Verses 17,18, For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Jesus tells Nicodemus that he was not sent to judge or condemn the world. He was sent to save the world.
The Lord Jesus came to be the Savior of Nicodemus, and the Savior of all.
Nicodemus and his fellow Jews expected the Messiah to come with great power and great glory to judge all men as recorded in Psalm 2:8-9, where they mistook the first coming of Christ with the second coming.
Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shall break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
He was not sent to start some new religion, some new pattern of life to live by, in order to gain stature with God.
He came to receive sinners unto himself.
He came to seek and to save that which was lost, those who are perishing.
Condemnation lies within all sinners.
By nature sinners are children of wrath.
Condemnation hangs over their heads like an ax held by a fine thread.
By their unbelief they reveal their condemnation.
They reveal who they are for what you believe reveals what you are.
What you don't believe also reveals what you are.
One who sees no beauty or does not see the glory of God in a sunset or a beautiful mountain range does not judge or condemn the sunset or the mountains, but they judge themselves, they reveal who they are.
The person who depreciates Christ, or does not think Christ capable of salvation, passes judgment upon himself, not on Christ.
In fact they call Christ a liar, and in so doing they identify themselves with the condemned.
They do not need to wonder about their fate with regard to heaven or hell.
They do not need to wait until judgment day to find out their fate, the verdict on them has been pronounced already.
But those who believe on the name of the Son of God become God's children. For those who will not believe they have imposed upon themselves self-incurred judgment.
but he that believeth not is condemned already,
We see then that Jesus Christ tells Nicodemus that condemnation is tied to unbelief and that salvation is tied to belief, not to a religion or religious practice or a nationality or group.
The sin of unbelief is what seals a man or woman's fate.
Verse 3:19,20,21, And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Here is the cause of man's unbelief.
He loves the darkness and therefore hates the light.
Not only are men in the dark but they love the dark.
They would rather not accept that which is permanent so that they might have that which is immediate.
That which is permanent is always in the light, that which is immediate is always in darkness. We are children of the permanent, the eternal, children of light, not of darkness.
Men hate the light because it dispels the darkness.
The light reveals what they are and they do not want to know what they are.
The light shows us what a dark place the world is.
It shows human beings how dark and evil they are.
Men prefer ignorance, error, superstition, imaginations, over the light of truth.
Christ is the true light shining in the darkness.
He is the light that came into the world to illuminate everyone.
But he came unto his own and his own received him not for His own loved darkness.
Their deeds are evil and they do not want anyone to disturb their deeds.
Their deeds are secret and the darkness keeps the secrets.
But light will reveal the secrets of sinners and show them what they are.
A man who walks in darkness will say that he has a lot of living to do which really means that he has a lot of dying to do.
His kind of living has to be done in darkness.
But dark living is death and there is no light in death.
Those that are of the truth have no desire to avoid the light.
They desire to walk in the light that their works be manifest.
They come again and again to the light that their deeds might be made known and compared to the light whether they be right.
True light to the upright is their reward.
It reveals their character and heart. The true light reveals that their works are from God and that God should be praised for their works.
We come to the light in order to learn God's mind, that we may stop doing those things that displease him and to do those things which please him.
In coming to the light we express faith which pleases God.
The light gives us the sight to see our ways.
It gives us light to compare our ways to the Word of God and thereby the Holy Spirit provides corrections to our ways that tend to conform us to the Son of God.
So concludes the interview with Nicodemus.
No statement is made concerning a decision by Nicodemus.
But indications in other portions of John hint that the light that Jesus Christ gave to him on this night bore fruit and that he was born again by water and the Spirit.
He may have come to Jesus by night but that did not stop Jesus from turning on the light so Nicodemus could see.
Jesus is the light of the world and in him is no darkness.
The night of Nicodemus was no match for the Light of the World.
This passage is not only for Nicodemus but has been, and continues to be a beloved passage for all the "whosoevers" of John 3:16 that they may know the truth regarding the new birth and the true condition of man and of the world.
It is written to appeal to all who are needy and weary and are heavy laden.
It is a primer on the beginning of the walk of the child of God.
Jesus said, Ye must be born again! And God’s “musts” are absolute! |