John 2:23-3:19 - Part B

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That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. He was well-known. He was influential. And then there's another little piece of the Nicodemus puzzle that we don't get to till later on, and that is at the burial of Jesus Christ, he brings 100 pounds of burial spices, Merinalos, which is quite costly, and that amount was quite costly. So we can safely surmise that he was a man of means.

He was wealthy. So it is this influential member of the Sanhedrin, a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who must have been watching, must have been listening in the crowd. He was there the day Jesus overturned the tables. He was there when he took that cord and and drove people out and said what he said. And I believe when Nicodemus saw and what Nicodemus heard, it was like fresh water on a parched soul. He was drawn to Jesus. He wanted to know more. So, verse two, this man came to Jesus by night. Now why did he come at night? There is no answer, because we're not told. You can guess all you want, but we're not told.

So let's make a few guesses. Number one, he was afraid. That's what a lot of people will say, well, he was afraid, and perhaps rightfully so. He didn't really know who Jesus was. He doesn't want to attach himself, his start of that wagon, until he knows a little bit about him. He didn't want to be seen publicly with him until he vets him a little bit.

So, yeah, he could have been a little bit afraid to be seen with Jesus, number one. Number two, he was busy. As a member of the Sanhedrin, as a ruling Pharisee, he had stuff to do. His schedule didn't permit it. You just can't take time off in the middle of your Pharisee workday and do whatever you want. You have certain duties to perform. That's a possibility.

Another possibility is he just wanted quality, unrestricted time. It's interesting, the rabbis used to say that the best time for studying Torah, for studying the law, for studying the scripture, is at night. When you are undisturbed, the rest of the world is turned in, gone to bed. You light a candle, you light a lamp, and you open up the scroll, and you read, and you spend time with God. At night, you get quality time, they used to say in those days. So, during the day, there were always crowds around Jesus. But if I could get him at night, undisturbed, have a one-on-one private conversation with him, it may be better.

So, it could be all of those reasons, it could be one of those reasons we're just not told. Nicodemus wanted a private meeting with Jesus. Can I suggest that you become like Nicodemus? That you don't get satisfied with just meeting with God with the crowd? I mean, you need the crowd, I need the crowd, we need fellowship with each other. I believe greatly in the importance of being together like this, and being on the same page, and going through great chunks of scripture together.

But there are things you can't get from Jesus in the crowd. You need a private meeting with him. Seek out a private meeting with him. And lay those things, those concerns, those burdens of your life before him in private. You need both.

You need private time, you need public time. Nicodemus came to him and he said, Rabbi, now that's a term of respect. He was a rabbi himself, Nicodemus, and he looks at Jesus and calls him with a term of respect, you are a Jewish rabbi. However, that's an assumption. The assumption in giving him the title that was his title is saying, you know, you and I are on the same level. We know, we being we the Sanhedrin, we who are interested in these things, we know that you are a teacher come from God.

That's again an assumption, and he's wrong. He's more than a teacher come from God. He is God who has come to teach. But his assumption is we have a new rabbi. He does things nobody else does. He has an authority nobody else has, and he uniquely refers to the temple not as the house, but as my father's house. My father, not our, my father's house. He claims a unique relationship with our God.

I need more information. So he opens up with a nice introduction. We know that you're a teacher come from God because nobody can do these signs unless God is with him. Jesus answered and said to him, Oh, thank you, Nicodemus. I thank you for that. I appreciate hearing that.

It's interesting. Jesus doesn't even respond to this compliment. He just sort of ignores it and gets right to the very heart of the matter. He kind of liked that about Jesus.

He wasn't really interested in small talk. You know, it's like, you know, okay, unless you're born again, you won't even see the kingdom of God. 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?

Okay. I'm betting that Nicodemus never had anybody talk to him this way. And it's quite a statement. Nicodemus believed that his qualification for entering heaven was his birth. His first birth, his physical birth. He was born a Jew. He was under the covenant of Israel. He knew that there was a special covenant that God made with his people, and he was part of that covenant. He was born into it.

One of the tribes of Israel. He had the bloodline. All he needed for the kingdom was birth. And then Jesus throws this curveball and says, Unless you're born again, you won't even see the kingdom. You know, it's like not only will you not enter, you won't even get close to the kingdom.

You won't even see it. Unless you're born again. Now, that term has become a cliche.

We have robbed it of its majesty and its meaning and then given it back. I've even heard people talk about born again like it's a separate religion. A sect of Christianity. Oh, you're one of those born again types. One person said, You're a born againer. I didn't correct his grammar, even though I am want to on many occasions. But anyway, I knew what he was saying. You're one of those born again Christians as if there's any other kind. Unless a man is born again, he won't even see the kingdom of God. How can a man be born when he's scratching his head? I don't get it. What is this talk?

Okay, I'm going to reel it back a little bit. According to the Jews, they had a very interesting term. If you left Judaism, I'm sorry, if you left paganism or any other religious system which they would call paganism and converted to Judaism, they would give you the title reborn.

It was in some of their writings reborn. He who proselytizes into Judaism, the sages used to say, is like a newborn child. But Jesus isn't saying this to a pagan. He's saying this to a Jew, a ruler of the Jews, a Pharisee, a member of the Sanhedrin. Unless you are born again, you can't see it.

Now, he thought my first birth was enough. I'm a son of Abraham. But you can be a son of Abraham. You can be devout Jew. You can be a Methodist. You can be a Baptist. You can be a Calvary Chapel-ite. But you may not be a child of God. Just because, well, I was raised going here. I was raised in the faith.

What is your relationship with God like? Born again? What does born again mean? The word born again, the words born again in the Greek language.

Gneithe anothen means literally to be born from above. That is a spiritual birth. Or it can mean to be born a second time. That's what Nicodemus thought it meant. How can a man be born when he is old?

How does this work? I've been born once in Judaism. What do you mean born all over again?

But the word anothen means from above. And that's the sense in which Jesus is speaking about. New birth is what leads to new life. Jesus answered, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it.

But you cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the spirit. Now what does it mean when Jesus said you have to be born of water and of the spirit? Some will actually interpret this to mean baptism. Baptismal regeneration. There is a teaching in some segments of Christendom that believes that you get saved when you get wet. You are not saved until you are wet. When you get put under the water, that's when it's baptismal regeneration. So to be born of water, they say, means to be baptized.

I absolutely doubt that. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we return to Skip's teaching, we want to help you and the children in your life see the timeless story of Christ from cradle to cross with Nate Heitzig's new book, Christmas Under the Tree. Told through the eyes of an unlikely character and graced with illuminating illustrations, this gripping tale is rooted in the limitlessness of Christ's love and helps young readers understand why Jesus left heaven to be born under and die upon a tree. This exciting resource, along with a companion audio experience, are available to you now as our way of saying thanks for your gift of $25 or more to reach more people with God's love through Connect with Skip Heitzig.

Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give. Now, let's get back to Skip for more of today's teaching. I doubt it because number one, Jesus is speaking to a Jew who knew nothing about Christian baptism because that won't come for a while. And number two, I don't believe it means baptism or regeneration because if it did, Jesus, that's all he would be doing. He'd be going everywhere he could trying to dunk as many people as he could and all the apostles, they would be all about like get a hose or something.

They just got to get a lot of water because that's how people get saved, just fire hose them. I don't think it means baptismal regeneration because imagine if it did, there's that thief on the cross who at the last minute says, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus would have to say, Oh, I'm so sorry. I wish I could but obviously you're in a position, sir, where you're just going to have to rot in hell forever. There's just no hope for you at this point because you can't come down off that cross and get baptized. If you could, then you would be saved. You see, Paul said this, for Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel.

That's verbatim. If you were saved by baptism, if baptismal regeneration were indeed the truth, Paul never would have said for Christ did not send me to baptize. He would have said for Christ sent me to baptize, which is tantamount to preaching the gospel. But he didn't say that, for Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with the wisdom of words, but in the power of God. So what does it mean to be born of the water where, well, and by the way, there are about six views.

I will not go through them all. There are about six main views as to what this means. Born of the water, born of the Spirit. Others will say, look, he's speaking about a spiritual cleansing. And listen to perhaps what Jesus was referring to.

I'll just read it to you. This is out of the prophet Ezekiel, a promise that God made through that prophet in the Old Testament. In Ezekiel chapter 36, for I will take you from among the nations. And then he said, I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filth and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. And I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh.

I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. Now, the reason I bring this up is a possibility that he was maybe referring to Ezekiel because he's speaking to a ruler of the Jews, the Pharisee. And in verse 10, he says, are you not the teacher of Israel and you don't know these things?

Holding him accountable to at least have some kind of biblical reference for the whole idea of being born again. And indeed, the weight of verse 10 lends me to believe that he is referring to that spiritual cleansing like Ezekiel spoke about, like Ezekiel promised. Also, we know in the Bible that to be washed in water is a metaphor of the word of God.

Husbands, Ephesians chapter five, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. That he might sanctify her and wash her or purify her with the washing of water through the word. Jesus said, now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

First Peter, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, which is the word of God. So there is merit to speak about the word of the gospel being the spiritual Clorox bleach soap that cleans you. Now, my interpretation of John chapter three in the born again passage is a combination. I certainly believe it means spiritual cleansing, but notice the way it's constructed. Notice he says, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Why did he just say spirit, a spiritual cleansing?

He says water and the spirit. And then look at the very next verse, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit is spirit.

Let me suggest to you a possibility. To be physically born in ancient times was sometimes called to be born of the water. When a person is born physically, a person is born of the water and we know why. Because something breaks in a woman when she's about to deliver, what do we call that?

Her water broke. When the amniotic fluid of the womb bursts open and that water drains out, that baby's coming. So, it makes sense. It could mean this, unless you are born of the water physically, which leads to physical life, so too you must be born spiritually, which leads to spiritual life. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit is spirit. You must be born of the water and of the spirit. You have to be born the first time, obviously, you have to be a person who has a spiritual birth, a spiritual cleanser. So, to be born of the water could simply be an ancient metaphor for physical birth, followed by being born of the spirit, which is born again.

So, it's sort of a combination on those various interpretations. Okay, then he says something interesting in verse 8, something that we here in New Mexico know all about. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, you can't tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the spirit. Now again, there is a play on words, because do you know that the word wind and the word spirit is the same word, nouma. The wind blows where it wishes, you can't control the wind, you can't guess the direction of the wind, I wish I could. If I could control the wind, I would say stop, stop that, enough. You can't see the wind, you can't see it, you can see its effect, you can hear it, you can feel it, you can see its effect.

So is everyone who was born of the spirit. You can see the definite effect of the spirit in a person's life. Wind can change a place, right, it can change a place.

If a hurricane blows through or a tornado blows through, those are strong winds. You can see the effect of that, especially in the aftermath, it changes that place. The spirit of God changes people. Even as physical wind changes places, the spirit changes people.

And you can see the unmistakable effect when somebody has been touched by the Holy Spirit and born again. And Nicodemus answered, he still didn't get it. Nicodemus answered and said, how can these things be?

I don't get it, I can't figure it out. Jesus answered and said to him, are you the, not a, the definite article indicates that Nicodemus was considered sort of like the Billy Graham of Jerusalem. You are the teacher, you are a renowned, respected instructor of the law.

Are you the teacher of Israel and you don't know these things? Most assuredly I say to you, we speak what we know and testify what we have seen and you do not receive our witness. Jesus using the plural, personal pronoun, our, we, he is speaking not of me and my disciples, they're still learning it themselves. He's speaking of the Father and the Holy Spirit and himself.

This is intertrinitarian we, our. We know and we testify what we have seen and you do not receive our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven, but he who came down from heaven. Who came down from heaven?

Jesus. That is the Son of Man who is in heaven. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. No one can ascend into heaven except the one who came down from heaven. Now here is the core, the essence, the bottom line, the irreducible minimum of Christianity. There's no way that a person on earth can reach up and apprehend God.

No way. You cannot escape the prison you and I are in. We are confined in walls of time and space. We live in a time-space continuum. You can't transcend that.

You are a creature of time and space. There's no way you can reach up. You can't go up into heaven and find God. The essence of Christianity is that spiritual life has to come down from heaven. And Jesus, who is life, creator of life and has life in himself, John says at the beginning in chapter 1, came down from heaven. So since we can't escape our confinement, our box of time and space, the only possible way to be saved, to know God, to transcend this time-space continuum is for God to step into our box.

We can't get out of our box. We can't ascend into heaven. But God, through Jesus, became a man and stepped into time and space. And we beheld him, John said, as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. There is God in a human body. When he weeps, that's God weeping. When he heals, that's God's compassion. When he teaches, that's God wanting to give instruction. He is Emmanuel, God with us. So the essence of Christianity is that God, life, salvation, must come from heaven into our world.

And it did. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resource that will help you and the children in your life see the timeless story of Christ with fresh eyes.

Nate Heitzig's book, Christmas Under the Tree, with Forward by Levi Lusko, is our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copy when you give $25 or more. Call 800-922-1888.

That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can find full message series and libraries of content from Skip Heitzig on YouTube? Simply visit the Connect with Skip Heitzig channel on YouTube and be sure to subscribe to the channel so you never miss any new content. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast your burdens on His word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times.