John 3: 1-21? Lesson # 5

A Private Conversation About Eternal Life

I. Greetings:

Q How would you answer one of your relatives that is not a believer if they asked what it meant to be a real Christian?

Let them answer, and then read the following quote? “Human earnestness and vowing cannot make a man a disciple of Jesus Christ any more than it can turn him into an angel;? a man must receive something, and that is the meaning of being born again.? When once a man is struck by his need of the Holy Spirit, God will put the Holy Spirit into his spirit”.? Oswald Chambers, The Love of God, p. 113.

II. Introduction:? There was once a man named Nicodemus who wanted a private conversation with Jesus and sought such a conversation at night.? It is with this conversation that the Gospel of John teaches us how to obtain eternal life.? John’s Gospel is going to teach us how one becomes a Christian, a true Christian.? He does so with a personal touch, a dialogue between two men, just as it is for us today.? True salvation comes when Jesus and ourselves dialogue.

Have someone read John 3:1-2

Q Why did Nicodemus come to Jesus at night?

An = There are several possible answers.? 1)? He came at night to escape notice.? Nicodemus is presented as a timid soul.? He may have not had the courage to seek out Jesus because a lot of Nicodemus’ peers were not sure if they liked Jesus.? 2) He may have come to seek out a private conversation away from the crowds that always accompanied Jesus.?? 3) Nicodemus was known as a great man in his community, and it might have hurt his pride to be asking questions from this young Rabbi in the midst of the crowds.? 4)? It was considered pious in those days to study the Bible late into the night.? Perhaps he thought Jesus and he would be pious to discuss matters of religious importance late at night.? We do not know why Nicodemus came so late, but we do know that Jesus was quite willing to talk with him.? This is much like Jesus.? He is willing to talk to us no matter how shy we are, or no matter what our motive, He would like to talk with us about our eternal destiny.

Q Does Nicodemus regard Jesus highly?

An = Yes!? He saw Jesus as from God, he used the respectful title:? “Rabbi”, and spoke of the “signs” that Jesus did as indications of His being from God.

Note:? Nicodemus is a lot like us.? We respect Jesus and deep inside we want to be closer to God and so we have questions.? Maybe you have questions today.? Maybe like Nicodemus you can receive answers to your questions.? But be prepared for God to give us answers that we did not expect!

III.? The Challenge:? John 3:3-8.

Have someone read John 3:3-4

Note: Jesus does not beat around the bush;? He challenges Nicodemus.? Jesus does not let the conversation focus on Nicodemus’ complimentary statements about him but Jesus rather focuses on Nicodemus’ need.

Q What is it that he challenges Nicodemus with?

An = New birth or a birth from above.? Jesus challenges Nicodemus with something beyond human ability.? It has to be “new”, “from above”.? (John 3:3,7 = “anew” where John 3:31, 19:11,23 stress the “from above” aspect.? They mean the same.? Both mean it must come from God, not human endeavor.)

Note: ??? This would be like telling an orthodox bishop or an elder in a Protestant church that they need a new religious experience beyond what they have.? Remember Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin (the highest Jewish Religious body in the land).? Jesus challenged a person who knew all about the Bible stating that he needed something supernatural, something beyond human endeavor.

Note:? Nicodemus came from a long history of good morals, tradition, respectable honorable religious teaching.? Jesus was not telling this to a sinner, but to a highly moral and well-bred man.

Q Does Nicodemus understand in John 3:4?? (perhaps re-read 3:4).

An = 1) It could be that Nicodemus’ pride is hurt.? This language about being “born again” was possibly familiar to him but was only applied to “gentiles” or non-Jews.? This was demeaning to a great Jewish leader.? 2) His response could be something else as well.? It could be wishful thinking on his part.? How many of us wish we could be reborn and undo some of the mistakes we have made.? Perhaps Nicodemus is asking, “Can spiritual remaking really take place?”? 3)? Most likely, he just did not understand (which seems to fit the context quite well).

Have someone read John 3:5-8

Q What is Jesus saying?

An = Jesus is saying here that what is done by men on the natural plane is just that:? natural.? Jesus is pointing to a higher plane, one that man cannot control (see John 3:8).? We can no more control the Spirit of God than we can control the wind.? The word “wind” and the word “spirit” are the same words in Hebrew.? The wind is powerful, invisible and mysterious.? As we cannot control the wind or predict the wind, neither can we control or predict the powerful moving of God’s Holy Spirit.? We cannot control it, but we can experience it.

Q Is such an experience optional?

An = No, it clearly must take place and it must be “of God”.? It must be “beyond ourselves”.? It is miraculous, i.e. being born again, and it is impossible by human means.? One must be born of the Spirit.? It is miraculous but possible to have happen.

IV.? The Key to Jesus’ Authority:? John 3:9-13

Have someone read John 3:9-13

Q What is Jesus claiming about Himself?

An = In verse 11 many (with Him) speak of what they truly know.? The “we” could refer to Jesus and His Father, or all those who have been truly close to God:? disciples, the prophets, John the Baptist, etc.? Verse 13 says He came down from heaven.? Jesus comes from a heavenly, God-centered perspective, with insight and knowledge that no one else could know.

V.? This is Redemption: John 3:14-17

Have someone read John 3:14-17

Q What brings eternal life to human beings?

An = Belief, but belief in the uplifted Jesus.

Q What does John 3:14 mean?

An = Jesus is referring to Numbers 21.? The lifting up of a brass serpent in the wilderness by Moses so that anyone who had been bitten by snakes could be healed.? All they had to do was get out of their tent and “look” and they would be healed.? They had to move out of the tent though.? They had to choose.? In the same way one must see the “crucified” Jesus who died for our sins, not the famous man Jesus, or Jesus the teacher, but Jesus the crucified.

Note:? God did all the work.? God the Father gave.? God the Father gave because He loved the world.? He loved all peoples.

Note:? Judgment is coming, but God’s desire is for us to be saved.? He does want us.? Our deserved goal is to perish, but His desire is for our eternal life.

“Nothing has any power to alter a man save the incoming of the life of Jesus, and that is the only sign that he is born again.”? Oswald Chambers,? Run Today’s Race, p. 76.

VI.? This is Judgment:? John 3:18-21.

Have someone read John 3:18-21

Q What brings judgment?

An = Turning from the light.

Note:? Exposure is a key issue.? We hide if we are doing evil and we come if we are doing the truth.

Note:? What if we realize we are not proper and have not lived a righteous life?? The answer is the same for us as it was for Nicodemus.? Whether we are from a fine family and have lived a fine life or whether we have lived a life full of sexual sin and drugs we too need to be born from above.? We all need a power greater than ourselves to give us new life.

“Human earnestness and vowing cannot make a man a disciple of Jesus Christ any more than it can turn him into an angel;? a man must receive something, and that is the meaning of being born again.? When once a man is struck by his need of the Holy Spirit, God will put the Holy Spirit into his spirit.”? Oswald Chambers,? The Love of God, p. 113.