Seeking for the truth
© 2004 -
Numbers 21:4 -
The Israelites "travelled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go round Edom.
But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said;
"Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!"
Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.
The people came to Moses and said; "We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us."
So Moses prayed for the people.
The Lord said to Moses; "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live."
So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived."
John 3:1 -
"Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council.
He came to Jesus at night and said; "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come
from God. For no-
In reply Jesus declared,
"I tell you the Truth, unless a man
is born again, he cannot
see the Kingdom of God."
"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot
enter a second time into his
mother's womb to be born!"
Jesus answered; "I tell you the Truth, unless a man is born of water
and the Spirit, he cannot
enter the Kingdom of God.
Flesh gives birth to flesh,
but the Spirit gives birth to Spirit.
You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'
The wind blows wherever it pleases.
You hear it's sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.
"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? I tell you the Truth,
we speak of what we know,
and we testify to what we have seen,
but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?
No-
except the One who came
from heaven -
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world
that He gave His one and only Son,
that whoever believes in Him
shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not
believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the
name of God's one and only Son.
This is the verdict:
Light has come into the world,
but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
But whoever lives by the Truth
comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."
Ticket to heaven?
Here's a question;
Is there a TICKET to get to heaven?
No, tickets are not allowed.
Can you PAY at the door? No.
By looking at the John 3 passage (see right box) we could say:
All places are RESERVED for FAMILY MEMBERS only.
It doesn't matter what relationship you have with a particular family member, only those BORN INTO the family can go to heaven.
That's why Jesus CONFRONTS Nicodemus because Nicodemus believes he has got his CREDENTIALS to go to heaven.
He's got a TITLE, he's a RULER, very RELIGIOUS, very disciplined in PRAYER and BIBLE READING.
He's a religious TEACHER, PROUD of his family BACKGROUND, etc.
How about us?
Do we hold onto certain CREDENTIALS like that, for getting into heaven?
Jesus cut through these VAIN BELIEFS: John 3:3 "I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again"
And verse 5 "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to Spirit".
Notice there is no HALF WAY HOUSE.
No PATCH up job.
Why is that?
Because in the 1st letter to the Corinthians (2:14) Paul says: "The natural man does not RECEIVE the things of the Spirit of God, for they are FOOLISHNESS to him; nor can he KNOW them, because they are spiritually discerned".
The gap between the NATURAL FLESHLY man, and the SPIRITUAL man is colossal.
The chasm between HERE and HEAVEN is colossal.
By doing the best we can, it just won't enable us to CROSS OVER.
"Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to Spirit".
Notice the author of this change is the Holy Spirit.
To be born again, is to be born of the SPIRIT, to be born from ABOVE.
Jesus describes the Spirit in 2 ways:
Firstly in verse 5
"No one can enter the Kingdom of God
unless he is born of water and the Spirit".
This could be talking about water baptism, but more probably, Jesus is describing the Spirit working like water.
John the baptist spoke of the baptism of the "Holy Spirit and with fire".(Matthew 3:11)
The Holy Spirit and the fire were not two separate things.
It meant that the Holy Spirit came like fire.
So Jesus probably was saying that the Holy Spirit WORKS LIKE water.
Water cleanses, by washing away the filth.
In the letter to Titus (3:5) Paul says:
"He saved us through the WASHING of REBIRTH and RENEWAL by the Holy Spirit".
Paul talking about sinful people in the 1st letter to Corinthians (6:11)says:
"And such were some of you.
But you were WASHED,
but you were sanctified,
but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the SPIRIT of our God"
In Ezekiel 36:25 where the new birth is foretold it says:
“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.
I will give you a NEW HEART
and put a NEW SPIRIT within you."
The second way Jesus describes the Spirit is in verse 8;
"The wind blows wherever it pleases.
You hear it's sound,
but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.
So it is with everyone born of the Spirit".
Jesus compares the Spirit to the wind.
He blows not to our command.
He comes when and in what measure He pleases.
The wind can blow with power and we see the effects; TREES BROKEN in a path.
So with the Spirit: the STUBBORN WILL of a person broken, there's a MOURNING for sins committed, a life TURNED ROUND to now FOLLOW Christ, someone once a BLASPHEMER now CRYING out 'Father God!'
These are the sounds of the Spirit moving.
Nicodemus says: "How can these things be?"
He kind of believes that Jesus is a Teacher from God, but it seems no clearer to him.
He can be helped by some of Christ's teachings, and he could dodge round the difficult bits.
Many people today may receive some comfort from attending a church, but what a DANGEROUS place to be, if they just submit to what they please.
There's no half way ground, Jesus Christ says "You must be born again"
George Whitefield, a great preacher in the 18th century revival was asked why he
based so many of his sermons on "You must be born again".
George Whitefield, with a twinkle in his eye said:
"Because, you MUST be born again!"
There is no other way into the Kingdom of God.
Some people foolishly say "I will find out when I die, but for now, I will do the BEST I CAN".
But why do that?
Christ has come FROM HEAVEN, so He KNOWS!
Jesus Christ speaking in verse 11;
"I tell you the truth, we speak of what we KNOW, and we testify to what we have SEEN,
but still you people do not accept Our testimony.
I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe;
how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?
No one has gone into heaven EXCEPT the One who came from heaven -
Here is a mystery.
God's Son descended, but the Godhead cannot change places, they are all EVERYWHERE at the same time, all of the time and outside of time.
The persons of the Godhead are Spirit, without physical BODIES.
But Jesus was given a body, so that as the Son of Man He was talking with Nicodemus, but as God He is everywhere, but particularly in heaven.
God could not be crucified, nor shed blood, but because He condescended to be the
Son of Man it is recorded in 1 Corinthians 2:8 that the rulers "CRUCIFIED the LORD
of GLORY", and in Acts 20:28 that He purchased the church "with HIS OWN BLOOD".
What a mystery, what a wonder!
We now move onto the heart of the whole gospel.
Paul in his 1st letter to Timothy (1:15) says:
"This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance,
that Christ came into the world to save sinners".
The great design of His coming into the world was to save people from death.
There are 2 ASPECTS to this:
1) Everyone needs healing from an incurable disease called sin.
Someone in that state can be described as a dead man or woman.
But Christ came to save us from this death.
2) Everyone needs to be pardoned from the condemnation that hangs over us.
The whole human race is sitting on a spiritual death row.
Waiting for the final death sentence.
But Christ came to save us from this death.
Jesus begins to explain these two aspects of salvation to Nicodemus.
Verse 14; "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert,
so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life".
How interesting Jesus refers to this incident in Moses' life.
The people sinned, and God in response to this sin sent venomous snakes to bite them and many died.
Other translations call them 'Fiery Serpents'.
Let's look at 5 COMPARISONS between this story of Moses and Christ's death:
1) They had fiery serpents.
We have Satan, that old Serpent, as our enemy.
Satans temptations are called "FIERY DARTS of the Wicked one" in Ephesians (6:16)
Sin is like the bite of this fiery serpent, and the result is DEATH.
We may pray 'Lord TAKE AWAY these serpents' as they prayed, but the Lord has His own solution.
2) The remedy for them was devised and prescribed by God Himself.
It is the same for us. Salvation is inspired by God, and He Himself paid the ransom.
The remedy then was a very unlikely method of cure.
Now salvation by Christ is a stumbling block to the Jews, and FOOLISHNESS to everyone else.
3) The object that cured them was SHAPED in the LIKENESS of that thing that WOUNDED them.
The same with Christ, although He was sinless and perfect He became sin.
2 Corinthians 5:21 "For God made Him who KNEW no sin to BE SIN for us,
that we might become the righteousness of God in Him".
4) The bronze snake was lifted up on a long pole, so that wherever the people were
in their camp, if they got bitten, they could still look at it.
So Christ was raised high upon the cross.
In John 12:32 Jesus says:
"And I, if I am lifted up from the earth,
I will draw all peoples to Myself".
This He said, signifying by what death He would die.”
Often in the gospels we read that the crowds picked up stones to kill Him, or they tried to throw Him off of a hill, but His death was PREDESTINED as being on a CROSS.
The verse needed to be fulfilled that said: "Cursed is He who hangs upon a tree".
He took our sins upon Himself, and so took upon Himself the CURSE of the LAW.
He was lifted up as a SPECTACLE.
He hung BETWEEN heaven and earth, and both ABANDONED Him.
The world hated Him because He testified that their works were evil.
Heaven couldn't look upon Him because He became sin.
5) The people looked up at the bronze serpent and LIVED.
It is the same for us.
By faith we look up to Christ and live.
God speaking through Isaiah in chapter 45:22 says:
"Look to Me, and be SAVED all the ends of the earth.
For I am God, and there is no other".
If no one looked to the bronze serpent, then they weren't healed.
If they refused to look, then their death was upon their own heads.
It is the same situation with us and Christ.
He was lifted up, but there is no cure unless we look with faith.
We must realise the seriousness of our wound, our sin, the DANGER we're in.
Death is just around the corner if we do nothing.
We must look and believe in Christ, and RELY upon Him to HEAL and to SAVE us.
Whoever believes in Christ, though they may be weak in faith, SHALL NOT PERISH.
So the great design of Christ coming into the world was to HEAL us from this INCURABLE DISEASE, called SIN which we have just looked at.
Now we will look at His PARDON, to those who are CONDEMNED to DIE from the sentence of the Law. John 3:16 can be so very familiar to some of us.
So I've added some more words:
"For God so loved this SELFISH, corrupt, sinful world
which in all Justice, would be CONDEMNED and SENTENCED
to unspeakable MISERY for ETERNITY,
that He sent His One and only Son with this UNDESERVED PROPOSAL,
that whoever believes in Him should not be SENTENCED to such MISERIES,
but they should have EVERLASTING life.”
This means more than just a reprieve, we can be ACQUITTED.
"There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus".
The offer means that the CONVICTED LAWBREAKER is not only PARDONED, but is treated as a FAVOURITE, along with all the others who believe.
Christ then finishes His discourse concerning the DEPLORABLE condition of those that REFUSE to believe in Him.
verse 18; "Whoever believes in Him is not condemned,
but whoever does not believe stands condemned already
because he has not believed in the Name of God's one and only Son."
How offensive is the sin of UNBELIEF.
They believe not in God's One and only Son, who is infinitely true, and deserves to be believed, infinitely good, and deserves to be embraced.
God sent Jesus, His Son, the One dearest to Himself, and so shall we not love Him?
Unbelief is the great damning sin, because it sins against the REMEDY.
The only remedy for their pitiful condition.
Verse 19-
but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
Everyone who does evil hates the light,
and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed."
People love their ignorance and mistakes, which support them in their sins, but they
HATE the LIGHT which will separate them from their sins.
The light shines and people head off into the shadows and darkness.
But the darkness is forbidden.
It is full of ignorance and deceit.
People love the forbidden ignorance, it eases their conscience.
The light robs them of the good opinion they have of themselves, because it shows their sinfulness.
Christ is hated by those who love sin, and those who do not come to the light show a secret hate of that light.
The light scares the evil doers, but it comforts those who believe.
Believers AIM at integrity, though we have weaknesses, we AIM at truthfulness and sincerity.
We desire that ALL we do, will be done in God's strength.
We realise that our salvation is of HIM, and not of OUR works.
HE has caused us to be born again, born of the Spirit of God. Amen.
Whitefield, 3 Crosses, Snakes & Graveyard image: thanks to
‘The Pictorial Dictionary’ published by The Educational Book Company, London.
Back to menu