LOC 022: Life of Christ:
Heavenly Things
Last week we saw how Jesus is the one who knows men’s hearts and
what is in man from the past paragraph of John Chapter Two.
We also looked at Nicodemus as an example of one of whom Jesus
knew his heart and what he was all about. He came to Jesus addressing him with
respect, because Jesus knew what he was all about, Jesus got the point of his
true need--his need to be born again.
We saw how it is likely that Nicodemus as a ruler of the Jews
would have been in and around the Temple when Jesus cleared it. We took note of Nicodemus’ words that Jesus
had performed signs in the plural. And,
it was in my notes, but e did not bring it out, that Jesus knew who Nicodemus
was without Nicodemus volunteering that information. They were known to each other. Yet, Jesus had the advantage of knowing what
was in his heart.
Today we come to look at the last part of the conversation between
Jesus and Nicodemus. It isn’t actually a conversation anymore, but a
monologue. Jesus changes his manner of
speech and speaks in the in first person plural, we, to the second person
plural, all of you.
Jesus is no longer speaking to Nicodemus alone, but all that
Nicodemus represents as a ruler of the Jews.
And he is no longer speaking for himself alone, but for the Triune God.
Keep this I your mind as we read through this section of John
Chapter Three. Jesus uses WE while
addressing a group represented by Nicodemus by using the plural You or as we
might put it all of you. Listen and
follow along:
1. Jesus identifies himself as
spokesman
3:11 "Most
assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen,
and you do not receive Our witness.
2. Jesus identifies the depth of what has been
revealed
JOH 3:12 "If I have
told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell
you heavenly things?
3. Jesus identifies some heavenly things for
Nicodemus
13 "No one has
ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man
who is in heaven.
4. Jesus identifies a familiar illustration to
aid understanding
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.
5. Jesus identifies the purpose for His Coming
A. Positively Stated
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.
B. Negatively Stated
17 "For God did
not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world
through Him might be saved.
C. The two brought together
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.
D. Condemnation Explained
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.
E. The Fruit of those who do the truth
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."
Do you see how Jesus is no longer speaking as a lone teacher to a
ruler of Israel? There is more going on
of Eternal importance. Let’s look at the
text with some comment.
1. Jesus identifies himself as
spokesman
3:11 "Most
assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen,
and you do not receive Our witness.
Do you see the change in perspective? Jesus is speaking. He is the I that speaks to
Nicodemus with great certainty once again.
But, he says, We speak what we know and testify what we have seen.
Some believe Jesus is talking about all men generally. That is,
that all men speak about things they know something about whether what they
know is right or wrong. Others believe
Jesus is speaking for God meaning, that God speaks and testifies of hose things
known and seen. I think the context
shows us that the WE is in contrast with the you mentioned in the latter part
of the verse. One group speaks and
testifies to what they know and have seen, and the other does not receive the
witness. clearly, Nicodemus in the group
who did not receive the witness.
In the context, I believe it to be a safe conclusion to see the we
as God who knows and speaks the truth based on the actual state of
affairs. And, the you, should be
understood as the Jews of the first century and Nicodemus as a representative
of them. For, the Jews had not received
the testimony or witness that had been brought to them. John already addressed
this in Chapter One-- JOH 1:11 He came
to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
12 But as many as
received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who
believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
In three verses of Chapter One we find another helpful
introduction to this personal sermon spoken to Nicodemus about the Jews as a
whole. Notice that John 1:13 has already
introduced the readers to the importance of being born of God. This narrative should have reminded them of
that.
Jesus presence in Jerusalem was one of those times when the Jews
did not receive him for what he rightfully was--the son of man, the son of God,
and messiah to whom they should look in faith. It is these weighty matters that
Jesus goes on to identify for Nicodemus as a representative of the Jews of his
day.
2. Jesus identifies the depth of what has been
revealed
JOH 3:12 "If I have
told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell
you heavenly things?
The teaching of the new birth is a thing of this existence. It is not one of the deeper things of God, or
in the language of John, a heavenly thing.
Nicodemus should have known about it from his study of the Old
Testament.
Three examples:
David:
Psalm 51:9 Hide Your
face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean
heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
David knew a work of God was necessary to cleanse him from his
sin. He knew it was the work of God to
do and not the work of man to accomplish.
Joel:
Joel 2:28 "And it
shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your
sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your
young men shall see visions. 29 And also on My menservants and on My
maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
We find this fulfilled in the book of Acts. Nicodemus should have
known that a time wherein the Spirit would work with great power was coming.
Ezekiel:
Ezekiel 36:25 "Then
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you
from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 "I will give you a
new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out
of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 "I will put
My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My
judgments and do them.
This passage, especially verse 27, is a picture of the new birth
that would come through the work of the Spirit.
This is what Jesus calls Nicodemus and the other Jews to account for not
knowing. And, Jesus says, these things are earthly, not heavenly. But he goes
on to where...
3. Jesus identifies some heavenly things for
Nicodemus
13 "No one has
ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man
who is in heaven.
In the original this verse is connected to the last with the Greek
word for AND.
The Rabbis of Judaism believed themselves to have heavenly
knowledge through the intermediary of some Old Testament saints who had
returned to tell of heavens glories.
Many of these stories had to do with alleged appearances of Moses. Jesus goes after this false basis of
authority by telling Nicodemus, the representative of the Jews, that this was
not true, it was spurious like the faith of some after Pentecost. Jesus says only one has come from heaven to
reveal the mysteries of God. That one is
the Son of Man. Jesus alone has heavenly
knowledge to direct man’s thoughts and worship.
Yet, he illustrates the point with another earthy illustration.
4. Jesus identifies a familiar illustration to
aid understanding
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.
Old Testament deliverances point us to present realities. In the same way God delivered some through
looking at the serpent held high on a stick in the wilderness, so some will be
delivered as the Son of man is held up on a stick in Israel. At the Temple in Jerusalem at Pentecost,
Jesus talked about the resurrection of his body, here he is foreshadowing his
death. The Son of man must be Lifted UP
for those who look to him for deliverance.
They will not perish, but enjoy life of the ages.
Look at the Old Testament background to this illustration:
Numbers 21:5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses:
"Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our
soul loathes this worthless bread."
6 So the LORD sent
fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the
people of Israel died. 7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, "We
have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the
LORD that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the
people.
8 Then the LORD said
to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be
that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live."
9 So Moses made a
bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten
anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
They were delivered by that which they feared. God delivered them from the serpents by
looking at another. What an absurd sort
of reversal.
In the same way, the Jews of that day would need to look at one
who would be impaled and put forth as a demonstration of God’s power. They
would need to look at the one who they despised and rejected. Therefore the Jews needed a clear statement
about the purpose for Jesus coming.
Jesus is speaking in line with Nicodemus’ comments, he speaks strongly
because God is truly with him.
5. Jesus identifies the purpose for His Coming
A. Positively Stated
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.
Nicodemus, this isn’t a Jewish thing, think in a larger
scale. God loved the entire system
allied against him. He loved it so much
that he took the action necessary to dismantle parts of it. Left to itself it would have never know
redemption and deliverance. It is due to
God’s love that anything good is possible.
Because of God’s great love, he sent his Son, his only begotten
Son, one of the same stuff who stands before you today. Belief in this Son is the only way one can
escape the consequences of sin. God’s
love makes it possible for men to not perish, but have everlasting life.
There are two options before the World, life or death. God loved the world and her system so much he
broke through to demonstrate his compassion to give his only Son, that all who
believe in him can receive the glorious benefits he offers.
But we have to read on. We
cannot stop at the end of verse 16. Many
have and have gleaned a false impression of the purpose for the coming of the
Son of God. He came because of God’s
love for the world, a world already under just condemnation.... Remember, this is still in conjunction with
the teaching on the need for the new birth as a sovereign work of the Spirit of
God. This is the heavenly reality behind
and supporting the need for regeneration.
It is not in contradiction with it.
Jesus is teaching about the same need of man from varying perspectives,
especially the heavenly and the earthly.
B. Negatively Stated
17 "For God did
not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world
through Him might be saved.
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world
because the world was already under his curse and condemnation. The only people
who have a problem with this are modern people who believe have a man-centered
view of the nature of man as they believe in the inherent goodness of all men.
Jews believed all outside of Israel where under God’s curse and
condemnation. The Jews themselves were
cursed and condemned. Jesus links the Jews with the World are part of the world
God loved and sent his Son into. Where
was he doing signs and teaching? In the heart of the capital city of Israel,
Jerusalem.
Jesus tells Nicodemus what he should already know. This is a constant theme in prophecy.
PRO 3:33 The curse
of the LORD is on the house of the
wicked, But He blesses the home of the just.
ISA 24:4 The earth
mourns and fades away, The world
languishes and fades away; The
haughty people of the earth languish. 5 The earth is also defiled under its
inhabitants, Because they have transgressed the laws, Changed the ordinance,
Broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore the curse
has devoured the earth, And those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the
inhabitants of the earth are burned, And few men are left.
JER 24:9 'I will deliver
them to trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, to be a
reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall
drive them.
JER 25:18 Jerusalem and
the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, an
astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day;
MAL 2:2 If you will not
hear, And if you will not take it to
heart, To give glory to My name," Says the LORD of hosts, "I will
send a curse upon you, And I will curse your blessings. Yes, I
have cursed them already, Because you do not take it to heart.
MAL 3:9 You are cursed
with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation.
MAL 4:6 And he will turn
The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to
their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."
Jesus didn’t need to come into the WORLD to condemn it--it was
already under condemnation due to unrighteousness, sin and transgression. It is because of this sin that men don’t want
to own up to the family characteristics.
ALL MEN ARE SINNERS AND JUSTLY UNDER GOD’S CONDEMNATION AND WRATH. Unless God gives them new birth and faith,
they will perish. Jesus came to rescue
those who would be born of the Spirit of God throughout the system of
unrighteousness allied against God his purposes and his agenda. This is why the Love of God is so great. These verses are not about the people, it is
about the greatness of the Love of God that was and is necessary for anyone to
be rescued from destruction. All are
naturally and by choice under the condemnation of God, they will perish unless
God is pleased to blow the wind of his Spirit upon them. Jesus goes on....
C. The two brought together
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.
One with faith is not condemned.
One without faith is already condemned.
What is the basis for the condemnation?
That they have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Unbelief is a sin. It is
not a special neutral category of men’s actions. It is sin that brings with it God’s just
condemnation. Any who do not believe are
under condemnation and remain in need.
In need of what?
In the earthly description of Jesus, JOH 3:3 Jesus answered and
said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God."
What is the source of the new birth? JOH 1:13 who were born, not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
The purpose of Jesus’ coming is not about the will of man to be
exercised in order to bring about belief, it is about the love of God that sent
the Lord Jesus Christ that men may hear the Word and be born again by the
Spirit of God. Regeneration precedes
belief. It can’t be any other way,
otherwise we could boast that our action brought us to heaven. Our unbelief is sin; our belief of faith is a
gift from God through a work of regeneration.
Jesus goes on to explain more of this heavenly reality in earthly
terms:
D. Condemnation Explained
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.
Why don’t people believe?
They love darkness. Why do they love darkness? Their deeds are
evil. If they came to the light they
would be exposed and find all they have is sin to condemn them and nothing in
themselves to commend them to God and his grace.
NOBODY IS CONDEMNED because they are not elect, they are condemned
because of their sin, by nature and design.
Salvation is of the Lord; condemnation is from the world.
E. The Fruit of those who do the truth
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."
What about you? What are you hiding behind? IN what shadows do you lurk trying to
convince others you are righteous, while you love the darkness and practice
evil deeds? What about you?
The only remedy for sin and the judgment of God that awaits every
soul under his sentence of condemnation is the grace and mercy of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He alone can bring you out
of the death sentence and prisonhouse of sin, to a new life with Christ. He does it through a work of his Spirit
opening your eyes that you might see the place where God’s presence is known
and his rule is experienced. Cry to him
for mercy.
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