A New Creation – Pt 3

Chapter 3, John chapter 3 is
where we find ourselves once again. We begin to look at this interaction
that Jesus has with a man named Nicodemus and it’s a telling
conversation. It’s telling not only about the
nature of Nicodemus, it’s telling about the nature of mankind.
That, in essence, is the purpose of this passage, is to illustrate
for us what was articulated at the end of chapter 2. That Jesus
Christ knew the heart of man. He knew all people. He knew their
weaknesses. He knew their affections. He
knew their sin. We come, once again, to chapter
3, which essentially begins in chapter 2. If you would, chapter
2, beginning in verse 23. Now, when he was in Jerusalem
at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name, observing
his signs, which he was doing. But Jesus, on his part, was not
entrusting himself to them. For he knew all men. And because
he did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for he himself
knew what was in man. Now there was a man. Now there
was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night
and said to him, Rabbi, We know that you have come from us, from
God, as a teacher, for no one can do the signs that you do
unless God is with him. Jesus answered and said to him,
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God. 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 born, can he? 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. That which
is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said
to you, you must be born again. 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 who is born of
the Spirit. Nicodemus said to him, how can
these things be? Jesus answered and said to him,
are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?
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.
If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will
you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into
heaven but He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. As Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up so that whoever believes will in Him
have eternal life. 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. For God did not send the
Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might
be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not
judged, but he who does not believe has been judged already. because
he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
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. For everyone who does evil hates
the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds
will be exposed. But he who practices the truth
comes to the light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having
been wrought in God.” Jesus knew. Jesus knew not only Nicodemus. Remember, Nicodemus is but an
illustration of the great principle that Jesus Christ knew what was
in man. He knew what was in every man
that was supposedly professing faith as he was working miracles. He knew that as long as he just
kept working miracles, as long as he just kept doing signs,
he would have a great following. He knew that some of these people’s
faith was no more than superficial. He knew that it was just a passing
fancy and they’d be on to the next thing as soon as he stopped
working these signs. Jesus knew their hearts. Jesus
knows every person’s heart. Jesus knows, and that’s exactly
the purpose of this account with Nicodemus, is to remind us that
Jesus Christ knows every person’s heart. He knows your heart. He
knows where you are with the Lord. He knows whether you’ve
made a profession of faith and whether it’s a mere profession
or whether you indeed intend to walk with Him in faith. Jesus Christ began to interact
with Nicodemus. And there was this initial confrontation. As we saw, there is a very simple
outline here in chapter 3. There are essentially these three
phases of this interaction that he has with Nicodemus. And in
the first phase, Jesus introduces to him this statement in verse
3. And he tells him of this ultimate
destiny, heaven, the kingdom of God. He affirms it. No doubt, Nicodemus believed
in the kingdom of God, but he thought it was going to be an
earthly king and an earthly kingdom. And Jesus speaks of it in entirely
different terms. It is the kingdom of God. And
in order to access this kingdom of God, there is There is an
inescapable necessity that one must be born again. Not only
that, in order to get into this kingdom, you have to experience
this spiritual birth, but he puts it as an absolute necessity. Unless one is born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. There are no alternate means.
There are no other ways to heaven. Jesus goes on in the second interaction,
verses 4-8, as we saw last Lord’s Day, that this being born again,
this new birth, is a spiritual birth. And it is a birth in which
the Holy Spirit is directly active. The Holy Spirit, we saw, it is
as a sovereign wind blowing and touching whoever He will. But
we come to a third interaction. That third interaction begins
in verse 9 and carries all the way down through verse 21. We
will not even begin to deal with it all this morning. Beginning
in verse 9, Jesus begins to interact with
Nicodemus with regards to his third question. If you notice,
Nicodemus’ words become fewer and fewer. Jesus words become
more detailed, and if you will, more intense. There is an intensification
at this point that is, it’s almost palpable. You can see it and
sense it in the interaction that he has with Nicodemus. And what
starts this whole thing is drama that perhaps reminds us of even
courtroom drama. There is this tendency in the
courtroom to destroy a witness. That’s the goal of the opposing
lawyer. To destroy the witness, to taint
his testimony, to catch him in a lie, to trip him up, to paint
him as some kind of a villain, perhaps to bring up his past,
and to destroy his witness there on the witness stand. And in
a very real way, the Pharisees were already attempting to do
that with Jesus. They were attempting to destroy
his witness even before he’d begun to testify. There is this
courtroom drama that takes place and you can see it in verse nine.
Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be? He expresses
doubt at the simple statements that Jesus has already made.
That the kingdom of God is a spiritual place. That in order to access
this spiritual place, every person must be born again. That it is
woven into God’s great plan of redemption. It is a work of the
Holy Spirit in the life of an individual. It is a bringing
to life. It is a rebirth. It is a second
and spiritual birth. And Nicodemus is dumbfounded.
Nicodemus finds this doctrine, this understanding of regeneration,
of bringing to life, he finds a new doctrine, and an unbelievable
one at that. Jesus doesn’t face a person who
is just like a parrot repeating his question over and over again,
though in a sense he does. What he’s doubting now is the
very doctrine of Regeneration, the need of regeneration. Nicodemus,
like most of the Pharisees, really believed that they had achieved
a level where they no longer needed a physician, remember?
They didn’t position themselves, they didn’t maintain an understanding
of their own nature as being sinful. So why on earth would
they, of all people, need rebirth? So Nicodemus is fuzzy on all
of this testimony that Jesus is giving and doubtful at that. And Jesus begins to answer. Jesus
answered and said to him, are you the teacher of Israel and
do not understand these things? I don’t take this as a rebuke.
I don’t take this as a harshness on Jesus’ part at all. If anything,
he’s sad. He’s saddened by the fact that
here is one of the rulers of the nation of Israel, one of
the key teachers, and he’s ignorant of these basic spiritual truths,
that all men are sinners, that all men would have need of a
spiritual work in their lives, a rebirth. It was indeed sad. And note when he calls Nicodemus
the teacher of Israel, he not only points to him as a representative
of this key community, the very nation of Israel was God’s chosen
people. And to be a Pharisee among them
was to be one of the elite of the elite. And to call him the
teacher was to put him at the very pinnacle. He was not only a representative.
Note this. Most of your English translations
capture this. Jesus identifies Nicodemus not
just as a teacher, but clearly as the teacher. Perhaps he was
authorized by all the other teachers as being preeminent. He was certainly
well known He would have been widely recognized throughout
the streets of Jerusalem, a prominent godly man. Whether Jesus was speaking about
an official position, that he was the preeminent teacher, he
certainly was famous. He certainly was one of the key
teachers in all of that religious operation. And it would have
been bad enough and sad in its own right for any Jew to not
realize that he was a sinner in need of God’s grace. But for
a teacher of Israel, but for the teacher of Israel to not
know that he was desperate for a savior, No wonder Jesus rebuked
them on a number of different occasions for being blind leaders
of the blind. Nicodemus and his attitude before
God would have been no help to the average sinner. He would
have been no help to the average individual. Rather, he would
have heaped upon him great works and more interpretations of the
law and more ways to achieve one’s own righteousness. That
was their goal. But I want you to note something.
I want you to note Jesus’ graciousness throughout this passage. Throughout
this passage, Jesus just so carefully and delicately takes the very
words that Nicodemus uses and turns them back graciously upon
him. Look at verse two. This man came
to Jesus by night and said, Rabbi, we know that you have come from
God. In verse 11, Jesus turns that
same verbiage around. We speak of what we know. You think you know a lot of things
we know. Nicodemus speaks of acknowledging
Jesus as a teacher. Jesus turns it around and acknowledges
him as allegedly one of the great teachers. Nicodemus is dumbfounded. How can a man, verse 4, be born
when he’s old? He cannot enter. Jesus turns
that right around in verse 5. Unless one is born, he cannot
enter the kingdom of God. Jesus uses Nicodemus’ own words
to subtly come to his level, as it were, and appeal to him. and to challenge him that this
radical change of life, this repentance, this regeneration,
a totally new making of an individual, a recreation was as necessary
for the Jew as it was for the Gentile. And that had been abundantly
taught throughout the Old Testament scriptures. Nicodemus should
have known. Nicodemus should have known above
all others that in order to come to God, he had to leave off this
attempt of coming on his own terms. Instead, he had to come
before God and cry out for mercy and to come to God on his own
terms. There is an intensification in
this passage. Jesus is intent on having Nicodemus
interact with the gospel. And the most basic element of
the gospel is that one is a sinner. That one needs the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so what Jesus does here,
beginning in verse 9, all the way through verse 20, is what’s
referred to in the courtroom as qualifying the witness. In
essence, Jesus is rehabilitating the witness, but the witness
is Himself. When a witness has been damaged
on the stand, either his testimony, perhaps his expertise, something
he said, something he didn’t say, the lawyer who placed him
on the stand will often have opportunity to come back to the
witness and rehabilitate the witness, build him back up in
the eyes of the jury. What Jesus does here is just amazing. Because He stands
before Nicodemus, so contrary, so contrary to Christ, so doubtful
of almost His every word. And Jesus Christ is going to
rehabilitate this witness. He’s going to rehabilitate Himself. He does so first. In this qualification
process he does so first by, note this, this witness’s testimony
is thus far ignorantly rejected. He points out the fact that his
own testimony has been rejected by Nicodemus. He doesn’t play
games, he doesn’t pretend that maybe he and Nicodemus are really
truly on the same page. Look at verse 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.” Jesus doesn’t hide the fact that
he knew Nicodemus in his heart was holding off and holding back,
that he was doubting in his heart, Jesus himself is obviously one
of the people that he refers to by the we, but the question
is, who is the other? Jesus says, we speak of what
we know and testify of what we have seen. And as you might imagine,
I think I have 31 commentaries
that I interact with on a regular basis. I don’t know that there
was almost any agreement as to who the we was. Many different
options. One said it was just teachers
like himself. Who would that even be? Who’s
a teacher like Jesus? Who taught the things with the
authority that he had? There was no one like Christ. Another said that it was all
who were born of the spirit. One said it this way, the new
birth imparts a new vision. He who is born of the Spirit
sees the kingdom of God. And all that is true. But to
think that anybody had thus far stepped up with any kind of a
testimony, even the disciples themselves had not been recorded
yet as providing anything more than just a basic testimony.
Listen, Andrew, we have found the Messiah. Philip, we have
found him whom Moses and the prophets wrote. Nathanael, you
are the son of God, the king of Israel. But it wasn’t as if
they went about proclaiming Christ from city to city, from town
to town. There was no record at all that
they had begun to proclaim those testimonies publicly and broadly. Was it teachers like himself?
Was it everyone who was born of the Spirit? Was it, the third
option, the three persons of the Trinity? Now that certainly
is a possibility if you take Genesis 1 as a model. Let us
make man in our image. But this option, while true,
would seem to be a stretch to expect Nicodemus to make that
leap. into the Trinity and an understanding of the Trinity
on the spot. Others thought that he was speaking
of his disciples. That certainly is an opportunity
or a possibility rather, but I’ve already said that they weren’t
even recorded yet as doing that broadly. This was an interesting
one. The fifth option said that it
was just a proverbial saying. And what they suggested that
we take that we very generally as just expressing a kind of
a proverbial saying that anybody would agree with. That would seem to pose more
questions than it even began to answer for Nicodemus. Because
it wasn’t a proverbial saying at all. One said that it was the Holy
Spirit, and it’s true enough. Jesus had just introduced the
mysterious ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of an individual,
but the Spirit wasn’t explicitly said to bear witness. The prophets,
we know that the Pharisees were enamored with the prophets, and
though they had just this marked tendency to pick and choose their
witness, John the Baptist likewise had cited Isaiah the prophet.
So the prophet, that’s not a bad option. I would say that if there
was any kind of consensus, it was around the idea that this
was John the Baptist in view. The preaching of John the Baptist
had been already dealt with in chapter one. He was absolutely
on the scene, absolutely known to the Pharisees, and his testimony
was rejected. But before I give you my perspective,
my opinion on the matter, I want you to just glance at verse 11. Truly, truly, I say to you, Jesus
says, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen. And you do not accept our testimony. What was their testimony? Well, the testimony that we have
seen thus far in John’s gospel is a call to repentance from
sin. It came from John the Baptist,
it came from Christ himself. That was John the Baptist’s ministry. Jesus’ cleansing of the temple
was another call to repentance. And the whole discussion here
with Nicodemus regarding the need of spiritual birth is a
call to repentance. May I suggest that when Jesus
said, we, He has in mind not only the Old Testament prophets,
but had foretold the Messiah, and of the need of repentance,
and of the need of new birth. but he included in that we John
the Baptist, who had already gone as a forerunner of the Messiah,
already calling people to repentance. And he also includes, absolutely
without a doubt, the Holy Spirit, who breathed life into the dead
sinner in order that they might see and know the Messiah through
repentance and faith. And that’s an imposing list of
company, isn’t it? That’s an imposing list of witnesses
that would easily justify the use of the plural, we. We know. And we testify. And you have not received our
testimony. Jesus is in the midst of rehabbing
himself as a witness. And he does so first by pointing
out that the witness’s testimony is thus far ignorantly rejected. He acknowledges before Nicodemus
and he wants Nicodemus to acknowledge that indeed Jesus stands before
him rejected thus far. But the second thing that Jesus
does, look at verse 12, the witness’s testimony is to this point astoundingly
simple. Look at verse 12. If I told you
earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe
if I tell you heavenly things? There’s a frequent contrast in
the New Testament between heavenly and earthly. First Corinthians
1540, heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. Second Corinthians 5.1,
earthly home and a heavenly building. But what does he mean by earthly
here? Is it just things that take place
here on earth? Is it just, as was so often the
understanding here, something that had occurred in the here
and now that John had introduced and Jesus was following up on?
Is it just merely some earthly dialogue? It was amazing to me
how many people landed on the idea of regeneration as being
part of this earthly discussion. I don’t think that you can put
regeneration in that category at all. Regeneration does take
place while we’re here on earth. But it is clearly, as Jesus already
spoke of, it is a miracle of God. It is a movement of the
Holy Spirit that is almost completely undetectable. until we see the
work. What I think he has in mind here
is repentance from sin. John had said, make straight
the way of the Lord. Remember in Luke’s gospel, Jesus spells this out in great
clarity, what repentance looks like. He said to the crowds, John the Baptist here said to
the crowds, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the
wrath of God to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not say to yourself, we
have Abraham as our father. And then one by one, they start
to come to John the Baptist, asking him what this repentance
looks like. That is the earthly report. That is the rejection. But there were also heavenly
things. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe,
if you do not embrace the need of repentance, if you do not
acknowledge yourself as a sinner, how will you receive heavenly
things? How will you believe if I tell
you heavenly things? When Jesus points to this. He begins to talk about all of
those elements that Nicodemus is still totally dull to. And
he doesn’t point out any specifics here yet, but he’s about to. He’s going to talk about things
that are not of this world. It’s totally different from what
Nicodemus had held to as a Pharisee. The nature of the Messiah. the
nature of salvation, the need of salvation, all of those counsels
of heaven, the atonement, the means of the atonement, those
are the heavenly things, not the least of which is regeneration,
a work of the Holy Spirit in the life of an individual. Those
are the mysteries. Those are the secrets of the
divine counsel, God’s counsel, the eternal plan of redemption
as it unfolds. Jesus says, if you don’t even
understand the basics, if you don’t even acknowledge that you
are a sinner in need of God’s grace, how will you begin to
understand God’s great plan of redemption as it unfolds in the
world? As I said, Jesus is rehabilitating
himself as a witness. The witness’s testimony thus
far is ignorantly rejected. Jesus points that out. The witness’s
testimony is to this point astoundingly simple. Jesus knows that it’s
been rejected and he points out the fact that his testimony is
just simple. It’s earthly. The fact that Nicodemus
is a sinner in need of repentance. But there’s a third. There’s
a third thing that Jesus does, and He does so in verse 13. The
witness’s testimony is, from all eternity, unquestionably
confirmed. In other words, in one sentence,
Jesus rehabilitates Himself, not as a good and qualified witness,
but as the only witness, the only one, that could impart truth
to Nicodemus. Look at verse 13. No one has
ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son
of Man. We saw several weeks ago this
phrase, the Son of Man, is Jesus’ favorite way of referring to
himself. It’s essentially his self-title. This is how he wants to be known. And it’s not only the way he
sees himself, but it’s the way he wants to be seen. It’s the
way he wants people to understand him functioning in the world. See, with Nicodemus and the like,
there was a problem in them understanding and embracing this term, the
Son of Man, because it was a term of weakness. They would have accepted, they
would have longed for Jesus to take on the title of a king or
emperor. Caesar, perhaps. But the Son
of Man? A term of weakness? That would have been a problem
to this religious leader. The idea of this weak, suffering
Messiah? That didn’t figure into their
understanding of God’s plan of redemption. And that’s the very
reason that Jesus uses this term. He selected this in order to
point out the fact that He was not only God, but He was also
fully human. It spoke of Him as the link,
if you will, between heaven and earth. And it presents this idea
that He had taken on human flesh as deity, as the Son of Man. One commentator said here that
our Lord has chosen this title, the expression, because it had
mysterious associations which were not generally known. These
are the heavenly things that He had just forecasted to Nicodemus.
That His title is going to be the Son of Man? That’s going
to require some thinking on Nicodemus’ part. It was like his parables,
able to conceal truth from the unworthy while it revealed more
and more to those whose hearts were being prepared to receive
it. It insisted upon the reality
of his humanity and his unique position as a member of the human
race. It harmonized with the messianic
claims. If it did not at once suggest
them, and when it became connected with the future glories of the
second advent, it revealed what had been previously veiled, respecting
His office and His eternal pre-existence. In other words, this title, the
Son of Man, said everything about Christ. If they would only be
patient and listen. Listen to what Jesus says, not
just about His title. Listen to what He says about
His testimony. That this witness’s testimony
is from all eternity, unquestionably confirmed. And that Jesus is
not only a good witness, He’s the only witness. He’s the only
one qualified to testify of these things. He says no one has ascended
into heaven. No one has gone up to heaven. No one has gone into heaven.
No one has knocked on heaven’s doors to hold a meeting with
God to have Him answer some questions. Some people saw or tried to see
reference here to the ascension. This isn’t talking about the
ascension after Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, spent
time with His disciples, and then ultimately was ascended
into heaven. This is talking about you and
I barging into heaven’s counsel. This is talking about men, mere
people, thinking that they could go to God with a yellow pad,
list full of questions and have him answer those questions and
straighten everything out here on earth. Jesus says, no one. Nobody’s ever done that. No mere
man has come and gone from heaven. No one has ever barged into God’s
council chamber demanding answers. That was a thought that was common
to the Jews. They understood it. Moses in one of his lengthy
sermons in Deuteronomy 29 and 30 Ultimately said in verse 12
It is not in heaven that you should say who will ascend to
heaven for us and bring it to us That we may hear it and do
it In other words, what Moses was doing was he was laying the
law before the people and he was saying, do you think that
you’re really going to go into heaven, barge into heaven, and
get better answers than what God has already given to you?
It was a common thought. It was a thought also that occurred
in Proverbs 30. Proverbs 30 verse 4, Who has
ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in
His fists? Who has wrapped up the waters
in a garment? Who has established all the ends
of the earth? What is His name and what is
His Son’s name? Surely you know. The whole point
there that Solomon is making is no one has gone up to God.
No one has gone and been schooled by God. No one has gone up and
taken God to task on these questions, gathered the information, and
returned to disseminate it. No one. No earthly witness. No one that is except he who
descended And there’s only one of those. And what he speaks
of is His incarnation. When Jesus Christ took on human
flesh, He became the Son of Man, and that preeminently qualified
Him as the, the one and only spokesman for God. To uncover
to man is great plan of redemption. To tell of people of their sinfulness
and of their need of a Savior, their need of repentance, their
need of regeneration, only one. It’s the Son of Man. As one pastor said, in order
to have first-hand information about those heavenly things,
one must have been present in God’s throne room when the decisions
were made. What a beautiful statement. What
a beautiful image that is. Here is Christ from all eternity,
face to face with God, as John told us in chapter 1, verse 1. No man has ever gone up to heaven. And so, he continues, God’s decree
concerning the redemption of his people lies completely outside
of the range of man’s knowledge until it is revealed to him. There was one. There was one,
the one who had descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And the
Son of Man comes with knowledge that is from His face-to-face
relation with God as God. Only one had that relationship. Only one had that kind of credibility. Only one had that kind of knowledge. One of the things that one begins
to uncover in the Gospels is the fact that Jesus Christ was
omniscient. We’ve already seen it with regards
to some of his own disciples. He knew their hearts. He knew
Nicodemus’ heart. A sinner who was just kind of
pretending, going through the motions with some degree of relative
faith in Jesus. Jesus knew His disciples’ thoughts. Jesus knew His enemies’ thoughts.
He knew the reasonings of their hearts, Luke 9, 47. Jesus Christ,
as He began to prepare for the cross, He knew that His hour
had come, John 13. He knew everything that was going
to happen to Him, John 18. In fact, at the end of the Gospel
of John, when He’s essentially restoring Peter to His ministry,
Remember that interaction that he has with broken hearted Peter.
Do you love me? And Peter says, you know that
I love you. Jesus asks him again, do you
love me? The third time and Peter said to him, Lord, you know everything. And that’s the witness. That’s the witness that John
presents here. That’s the purpose that John has in recording these
words of Christ. That’s the purpose that Jesus
has in rehabilitating himself before Nicodemus, is to remind
or instruct Nicodemus that he was, as well as God, omniscient. He knew everything. Psalm 139. says of God, Thou dost know when
I sit down and when I rise up. Thou dost understand my thought
from afar. Thou dost scrutinize my path
and my lying down. You are intimately acquainted
with all of my ways, even before there is a word on my tongue.
Behold, O Lord, You know it all. And for us, even though that
is a difficult concept to wrap our heads around and to submit
to, We ultimately don’t find a real difficulty ascribing that
to God. But to ascribe that quality of
deity to Christ? That’s what Jesus is doing here.
When he looks Nicodemus in the eye and he says, look, I am omniscient.
I am from eternity past and I am bringing to you good news. I am bringing to you the best
news that humanity’s ever heard. Nicodemus, you’re a sinner. Nicodemus,
you have need of a spiritual birth. As one pastor said, God is omniscient. He knows everything. Everything
possible, everything actual, all events, all creatures. God,
the past, present, and future. He is perfectly acquainted with
every detail in the life of every being in heaven. And so was the
Lord Jesus Christ. And as he stood there, saddened
over this leader of Israel, he mercifully pleads with him as
he rehabilitates his own witness. And he pleads with Nicodemus
to understand that he stands before the Son of Eternity. He
stands before the Son of God, and He stands before the Son
of Man. In closing, let me take you to
a passage, the book of Colossians. And I take you there not because
it is in some sense our church verse, our theme verse, Colossians
1.28, because it lands exactly where Jesus is here in this passage. We say this all the time. We
pray that this would be true of us. We proclaim Him, that
is the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other hope in anyone
else. We proclaim Him, admonishing
every man and teaching every man with all wisdom. Why? So that we may present every
man complete in Christ. Every person in the church is
crucial before God. Every person in the church is
to be the focus of the church in instructing, in leading, in
guiding. Watch Paul’s testimony of his
own ministry. For this purpose, verse 29, I
labor, striving according to his power which mightily works
within me. For I want you to know how great
a struggle I have on your behalf for all those who are in Laodicea
and for all those who have not personally seen my face. It’s
almost like that testimony that Paul gives at the outset of the
book of Romans. He longed to be with them. He
longed to impart some spiritual gift to them. He longed to preach
the gospel there in Rome. Why? Look at verse 2, that their
hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and
attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance
of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery. You see, Jesus is standing before
Nicodemus, essentially unfolding to Nicodemus, which was up to
that point a mystery. That the Messiah was going to
be a suffering servant? That all needed to place their
faith in this Messiah in order to be saved? Resulting in a true knowledge
of God’s mystery. What is it? That is Christ himself. in whom are hidden all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge.” Jesus has fully rehabilitated
himself before Nicodemus. I believe that we’ll see that
Nicodemus saw Christ for who he was, that his eyes began to
be opened to the Savior that was standing before Him in His
true nature, I believe Nicodemus would come to faith, and that
is Christ’s desire for him. Jesus knew that He had ignored
His testimony. Jesus knew that even though that
testimony was astoundingly simple, Nicodemus was dull to it. But
Jesus Christ won’t quit. And He fully rehabilitates himself
to where his witness, his testimony, his credibility is absolutely
unquestionably confirmed. And now Nicodemus, now Nicodemus
stands ready to receive heavenly things. And we’ll take those
up next Lord’s Day. Let’s pray. O merciful God, there are no doubt in this room,
those who have placed some measure of faith in Jesus and who would
say that they believe in Him, they certainly believe that He
exists, Lord, but they don’t believe everything about Him.
And perhaps even in their own life, Jesus has need of rehabilitation
in their own eyes. They’ve doubted Him. They think
that they’ve done good enough. They think that mere church attendance,
or some camp, or some thing that they’ve done, some amount of
giving, some degree of service, has rendered them saved at their
own hand. Lord God, we plead with You for
them. that you would open their eyes
to the fact that there are no other ways of salvation, that
the only way of salvation is through Christ, faith in Christ
alone, repentance from sin. Lord God, we pray, open their
eyes. Grant them repentance. Grant
them a full perspective of their utter sinfulness. Show to them Christ and Christ
alone. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray.
Amen.