Talking To A Religious Insider, Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. You see, Jesus wants to make a point here and he wants to be as clear as he can. Getting right with God is God's work.

It's not yours. You see, getting right with God is only something God can do, not you. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt.

Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. Nicodemus was an impressive man. He was one of the 6000 Pharisees, the guardians of the law. He was one of the 70 that served on the high council, the Sanhedrin of Israel. Like the Supreme Court justices are to the law of our land, the Sanhedrin was to the law of Moses. His credentials trail his name like a robe behind a king.

PhD, THD, MDiv, this guy had it all. Universities wanted him on their board, candidates wanted his endorsement, conferences wanted him on the platform. And when it comes to religion, he's a superstar. But when it comes to the kingdom of God, he's on the outside looking in. He is told by Jesus Christ that God doesn't care that he's one of 6000 Pharisees. God doesn't care that he's a member of the 70 member Sanhedrin. God doesn't care that he keeps the Sabbath the way Pharisees did. They wrote 24 chapters of commandments on Sabbath keeping. For example, Nicodemus would have never bathed on the Sabbath because he would have been afraid that if water would have splashed out of the tub, that would have been considered washing the floor.

That's how meticulous he was. And when he is told these things by Jesus Christ, he is shocked. By the way, religious people are always shocked by the grace of God. Open your Bibles to John chapter 3. Last time I began a series called Conversations of Jesus. And what we're going to do is just look at different conversations that Jesus had with individuals. And last week, Jesus spent time talking to a skeptic. His name was Nathaniel. And the mood of that conversation was friendly. In fact, it was almost playful.

This conversation is very, very different. It begins in verse 1. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. And this man came to Jesus by night. That's right.

This is the first episode of Nick at Night. Jesus has Nicodemus come to him at night. The reason was probably clear. He didn't want any of the other members of the Sanhedrin to know he was there. He may have represented a few others. We're not sure by the way he speaks here.

But he didn't want to get involved with that. They had already formed an opinion about Jesus Christ. And he says to him, Rabbi or Ramoni, we know. Notice he uses the we. He's not sure exactly how he wants to talk to Christ.

We know. That might mean there are other members of the Sanhedrin or other Pharisees. But he said, we know that you have come from God as a teacher. For no one can do the signs that you do unless God is with him.

Nicodemus comes to Christ and notice his interest, at least the way he says it, is simply this. Here's what I want to know. I want to know who you are.

Who are you? You see, he is a member of the Sanhedrin. He believes in the sense that Jesus should answer to him.

And so he says, Who are you? Now, Jesus knows there's a lot more to it than that. In fact, if you look at verse 24 of Chapter two, it says, But Jesus on his part was not entrusting himself to them, for he knew all men. Jesus always knew what you were thinking.

Jesus know knew why he came. And so Jesus isn't going to spend any time with that. You see, Nicodemus is trying to figure this out. Jesus is teaching, but he doesn't teach like they teach.

He doesn't seem to be interested in what they're interested in. Nicodemus was typically religious. As I said earlier, a superstar, religious people always feel the same way. Getting right with God is a matter of earning it. You've got to figure out how to earn it. That's the way it works. You achieve it.

You do it through ceremony and ritual and morality and human goodness. Nicodemus had all of that. More. And so he makes this question.

And then it's stunning. Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly. He says that often in the book of John a lot of times in this chapter.

Amen, amen. I don't know exactly how you translate it in English. It would sort of be, listen up.

This is really important. That's the only way I could think of it being said. He says, truly, truly.

Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Wow. So much for a nice easing into a conversation. Jesus just says it abruptly. You see, one of the main points of this conversation is this. When it comes to religion, there can be no compromise. Jesus Christ will not compromise with religion. And so he says, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again.

The word is anothon. It most of the time means again. It also means from above. Jesus likely means it in both ways here. Nicodemus interprets it as again. Jesus doesn't correct that interpretation. But just imagine if you're Nicodemus.

Look at the words that are used, unless, cannot. You see, Nicodemus didn't even know what born again meant. And so Nicodemus realizes that Jesus just looked him in the eye, who's what you're going to find in a moment, the lead teacher of the Sanhedrin. He looks him in the eye and says, you're out.

That's what he's doing. Nicodemus understands that. And so Nicodemus responds. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he's old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?

Now, please understand something. Nicodemus is brilliant. He's probably memorized the entire Old Testament.

He is a brilliant man. He would not ask such a stupid question. He's not saying, now, is that how this works?

We get back into our mother's wombs and we get to be born again. He's being sarcastic. You see, he's fighting back. He's a man of religious power and influence. Jesus is undaunted. Jesus said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Let's try it that way.

It's amazing. You see, Jesus wants to make a point here and he wants to be as clear as he can. Getting right with God is God's work.

It's not yours. You see, getting right with God is only something God can do, not you. Now, remember, the religious mindset is I will do enough. I will jump through hoops. I will go through ceremonies. I'll do the rituals and God will say, wow, that's impressive.

Come in. Jesus won't even talk about that. And like I said, Nicodemus' life is exemplary.

Not only did he keep the law in a very committed way, but I would think he would be viewed because he was elected to be with the teacher of Israel as one of the most astute men in the whole country and certainly a morally, a very, very powerful individual. Jesus says here, though, he uses a little bit different analogy. He said, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, and commentators have tried to figure out what did he mean by that, some imply that what Jesus meant was unless you are baptized and spiritually born again, you will not see the kingdom of God.

I don't believe that would even be a remote chance. First of all, baptism in the sense of Christianity doesn't even occur to Acts chapter 2. Secondly, the baptism of John would not in any sense. Jesus would not want to add a religious ritual when he's talking to a religious man.

That's exactly the point he's not making. Others have said, and there's some strength in this argument, that what he is talking about here is natural birth and then spiritual birth. In other words, unless you're born of water naturally and then you're born of the Spirit supernaturally, you can't see the kingdom of God. It has some strength in light of what Nicodemus just said in verse 4 and what Jesus is going to say in verse 6. It has a weakness though, and the weakness to it is why would Jesus argue for natural birth?

Unless you're naturally born, well, anyone you're talking to was naturally born. There's something else that might be going on here, and I think it's going to be strengthened when Jesus confronts that Nicodemus should have known better. Hold your place here and go with me back to Ezekiel chapter 36.

Ezekiel chapter 36. Now remember I told you, Nicodemus has likely memorized the entire Old Testament. There would probably not be a place where you could say to him, tell me what that says, and he would say, I don't know.

He would know. Jesus then is going to hold him accountable for this. And Jesus is going to drop in, and the imagery he's going to use comes from the idea that even though Israel has been so unfaithful to God throughout the centuries, that in the end, through the prophets, God says, I will restore Israel, and there will be a messianic kingdom.

That is going to happen. And you find it all through the prophets. This is just a very good one for the analogy. In verse 24 of Ezekiel 36, God speaking Ezekiel writing, says, for I will take you from the nations, and I will gather you from the lands, and I will bring you into your own land.

Notice how prophetic that is in light of the current situation in our world. He says, and then I will sprinkle you clean. He said, I will sprinkle clean water on you.

There's the water. And you will be clean, and I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, he says, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes.

And he says, and you will be careful to observe my ordinances. Down in verse 29, moreover, I will save you from your uncleanliness. In other words, what he is saying there in Ezekiel is this. The spiritual cleansing is the water, and the spiritual empowerment is the spirit. Notice God says, I'm going to do that.

Why? Because there's an unconditional covenant made for God to do it. It not only shows up in Ezekiel 36.

It shows up in Ezekiel 11, Jeremiah 24, Jeremiah 31, all over the Old Testament that God is going to do this. Now let's go back to John 3. What Jesus Christ is trying to tell Nicodemus is simply this. You cannot save yourself.

No one can. No one can save themself. Salvation is a thing of God.

Only God can save you. That's his point. Notice further his argument, and he says in verse 6, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit is spirit. Meaning no matter what you do in your flesh, and that's what religion is, you'll never get to the spirit. You might impress other people with your flesh, but you'll never make it to the spirit.

That's what he is saying. All the flesh can produce is flesh. Salvation is totally God's work. That's extremely hard for a religious person. No different today than it was in Nicodemus' day. The idea that, wait a minute, wait a minute, what do I do?

It's got to be something I do. It's a shock to a religious man. Notice he says, do not be amazed.

Why? Nicodemus' jaw is wide open. What? Now remember, Nicodemus is certain he's right with God. He's a Pharisee. He's the teacher of Israel. He's a member of the Sanhedrin. Remember the Pharisee prayer? He said, Lord, I thank you that I'm not like all these people.

The idea is, and what he meant by that was sincerity. I'm righteous. I'm a good man. I'm moral. I'm religious. I don't miss any ceremonies, festivals, or sacrifices.

I do what I have to do. Religion always talks the same way. He said, do not be amazed that I said to you, you must be born again. And then he uses another analogy. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it's going.

So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. So the analogy now is in birth. The analogy now is the idea of using wind.

The analogy, it's all God. Think of the wind. You can't control it. You can't summon it. You can't dismiss it.

It's invisible, uncontrollable, irresistible, and unpredictable. And don't we know that in southern Louisiana? See, and that's Jesus' point. Nicodemus, this has nothing to do with you.

This is a God thing. Born of the Spirit. Born from above. Born again. Nicodemus, befuddled now, says the Jesus.

How can this be? This is categorically against everything I was raised. Categorically against everything I've devoted my life to. I am a religious man.

You see, when you want to look to somebody who is really, really stout in their convictions of religion, I'm the guy. How can this be? You're telling me I can't earn this.

You're telling me it's not deserving on my part. Not much has ever really changed. Bob Diffenbaugh says, Nicodemus is so much part of the natural religious world that he cannot fathom the possibility of the spiritual or supernatural.

Nothing has changed. Jesus has had enough right now. He's not going to give up on Nicodemus. Jesus said to Nicodemus, Are you the teacher of Israel? And you don't understand this. Wow. And it isn't a teacher.

The article's there. You are the teacher. Whenever the Sanhedrin was trying to settle a dispute, and they talked about it, all these Pharisees devoted to the law, they said, Look, who's going to be the final word here? Nicodemus. Nicodemus is the one who's the custodian of the word of God in the Old Testament. He is the custodian of the law. And Jesus says, Are you the teacher of Israel?

And you don't get this? Nicodemus, didn't you ever study the covenants? The Abrahamic covenant, the Palestinian covenant, the Davidic covenant?

They're unconditional. God is going to fulfill those covenants no matter what because it's God's business. Nicodemus, don't you understand the Passover lamb? Don't you understand the provision of manna in the wilderness? Don't you understand all the prophecies of restoration?

Don't you get it, Nicodemus? How could you devote yourself to the Old Testament and not see this? One word, religion. Religion blinds you to the grace of God. Religion is the anesthetic that makes you immune to the real disease.

Nothing has changed. Jesus is just so straightforward with this. And now the chapter changes. All we talked about in these first 10 verses was the sovereignty of God and salvation.

But he knows what's going on in Nicodemus' head and how he's thinking. And he says, What am I to do with this? What is our responsibility? You see, what is our responsibility then?

Do we have any? What's our responsibility? And Jesus now is going to devote the rest of this discussion to man's responsibility. And it's real simple. Believe. That's it. Believe. Faith. You see, the one main point of this discussion is when it comes to religion, you can be no compromise.

The second one is this, though. When it comes to salvation, it is faith and faith alone in Christ and Christ alone. That's what he's going to say. That's it.

There's no more discussion about anything else. That's responsibility. God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. God's sovereignty and man's free will. Inevitably, by the way, when you study the Bible, and especially when you're teaching Bible studies, especially also if you're teaching men, somehow this really gets to men.

That ends up becoming a discussion point a lot. Now, Pastor, I'd just like to ask a question. Is God sovereign, or do we have free will? Well, my view is that I really deny the question. You just used the word or, and I don't think that's what Scripture teaches.

I love what John MacArthur writes about this. He said, when it comes to God's sovereignty and our free will, it always runs parallel. They always run parallel. They will never come together. They will never intersect. They will never be diminished.

Legitimately, they are what they are. The fact that you don't understand how they go together only proves that you're less than you ought to be. It doesn't say anything about God. Your inability to harmonize those things is a reflection of your fallenness and my fallenness. People ask me all the time, John, how do you harmonize those?

Well, my answer is, I don't, and I can't. They can't be harmonized in the human mind, but realize this. You are a puny mind, and so am I. And collectively, we are puny compared to the infinite, vast, limitless mind of God. He says, all I can tell you is that in the word of God, these truths run parallel. And the answer is to believe them both with all your heart. He says, and the one, divine sovereignty, it will inform your worship and the other, human responsibility, it will motivate your evangelism. He says it well. You see, but Jesus now makes the shift, and when he makes the shift, it's in verse 11, he says, truly, truly, once again, amen, amen, I say to you.

And then there's a little play on here. He said, we speak that which we know. I just love this because my view of it is Nicodemus came and said, we have some questions for you. So Jesus said, okay, then we have some answers for you.

If you want to say I, I'll say we, just like you did. And he says here, he said, we know and we testify what we have seen. You do not accept our testimony. And he said, now he switches back, and if I told you these things, you would not believe. How will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? If I told you earthly things, then you did not believe.

That's his point. Nicodemus is unbelieving right here. Jesus just went through what he did. Now, you may find this strange, but I find those two verses extremely encouraging. Jesus Christ is the most persuasive, powerful, competent, convincing, convincing, brilliant, clear teacher who's ever lived. And he spent a conversation with Nicodemus, and Nicodemus looked at him and said, I don't believe it.

That was Jesus talking to him. I don't believe it. That encourages me. If people can reject, religious people can reject the grace of God when Jesus is telling them.

I don't mind them rejecting it when I tell them. Earthly things, he means the concept of birth as an earthly thing, such a simple thing. Then Jesus says something amazing, though. He goes, but that's a mistake. He said in verse 13, no one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

Why does he say that? When it comes to salvation and getting right with God, there is nobody on this earth that has the authority I have. Nobody. No member of the Sanhedrin. Not Gamaliel, the great trainer of rabbis.

You see, nobody. See, none of them have ascended to heaven. I descended from heaven. When I come and talk to you about how to get into heaven, you ought to listen to me, he said. I have the authority. Who could speak on salvation any greater than Jesus Christ?

You see, that's his point. A guy like Nicodemus is really impressed with credentials, especially religious ones. Jesus just gave his. I just came from heaven. So what do you think of that?

And then, what a great offer. He says, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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