John 3-4
Tape #C2543
By Chuck Smith
Have we got a message for you tonight from the Word of God! John chapter 3 and 4, oh
my, how rich! How blessed!
There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the
Jews (3:1).
We know a few things about him; we know that he must have been very wealthy, for he
came with Joseph of Arimathea to embalm the body of Jesus after the crucifixion. And he
brought these costly spices, about a hundred pounds, that only a very wealthy person could
afford. A ruler of the Jews means that he was one of the seventy Sanhedrin, and, according to
Jesus, he was a teacher of the Jews. He said, "Art thou a teacher of the Jews and knowest not
these things?"
Finally, he was a Pharisee. The Pharisees numbered about six thousand men who had
dedicated their entire life to keeping the codified law. They recognized that the first five chapters
of the Old Testament were God's inspired Word to man. Now, the scribes had sought to interpret
those first five books and their codifying of the law, and this was called the Mishna. Now, for
instance, the law said, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." But in the Mishna there
were twenty-four chapters written to qualify what that meant. Now, God said it very simply, just,
"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And in six days you should do your labor, and the
seventh day you shall rest and not do any labor on that day." But it took them twenty-four
chapters to constitute what it meant and what the limitations and all were, the Mishna.
Now, the Pharisees sought to keep the whole Mishna, the codified law, or the
explanations in the writings in the codified law. Now, on top of the Mishna, they then wrote the
Talmud, which was a commentary on the Mishna. And so, the things just continued to expand
and expand. But the Pharisee was one who sought, and the primary purpose of his life was the
keeping of the codified law.
Nicodemus, a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews:
He came to Jesus at night (3:2),
Now, if anyone had it made by works or by the law, it would have been Nicodemus. If
anyone could present their righteous credentials before God, it would be a Pharisee. They spent
their entire life endeavoring to keep every aspect of God's holy law. If there were righteousness
through the law, then the Pharisees surely would have achieved it. If a man could be righteous
before God by his works, then surely the Pharisees would be accounted righteous. If there was
anybody who didn't need to be born again, it would have been the Pharisees.
But though he was a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews, a teacher, he was drawn to Jesus,
much like perhaps that rich young ruler who came to Jesus and fell on his knees before Him and
said, "Good Master, what must I do to have eternal life, or to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said,
"Keep the commandments." And he said, "Which?" And as Jesus rattled off for him the first six
commandments, or the second six actually, he said, "All of these have I kept for my youth, what
lack I yet?" There was a realization that just the keeping of the law was not enough. There must
be something more. Evidently, Nicodemus had this same awareness: there must be something
more! Recognizing in Jesus a special quality, recognizing a special mission.
for he said to Jesus, Rabbi [Master], we know that thou art a teacher
who has come from God (3:2):
He recognized, though the other Pharisees did not recognize, he did recognize the divine
authority by which Jesus spake. "We know that you are a teacher that has come from God,”
for no man can do these miracles which you do, except God be with him
(3:2).
So, he had made this acknowledgement and had this recognition that was not
acknowledged by the other Pharisees. And yet was a tremendous witness and testimony to Jesus
Christ. Jesus Himself called His disciples to believe because of the witness of His works. He
said, "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very
works’ sake" (John 14:11). Again He said, "My works, they do testify of Me" (John 5:36).
Nicodemus acknowledged this, "We know that You're a teacher come from God, because no
man can do the miracles that You have done unless God was with him."
Now Jesus knew all things and He knew what was in the heart of Nicodemus and He
knew foremost in the man's heart was, "How can I enter into this kingdom of God?" And so Jesus
came directly to the issue that was upon the heart of Nicodemus, and He said unto him,
I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God (3:3).
Now Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, said to His disciples, "Except your
righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of
heaven" (Matthew 5:20).
Now, as I said, the Pharisees spent their entire life endeavoring to keep the codified law
of God, not just the Ten Commandments, but all of the Mishna, the codified law by which the
Ten Commandments were explained and amplified and interpreted. And yet, Jesus said, "Unless
your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you're not going to enter the
kingdom of heaven." Now He is saying to this Pharisee, the ruler of the Jews, "Unless a man is
born again, he cannot enter, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
So Nicodemus said, How can a man be born again when he is old? can
he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? And Jesus
answered, Verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born of water and of the
Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. For that which is born of the flesh is
flesh; and that which is born of Spirit is spirit (3:4–6).
Now Nicodemus was interested in being born again, but the process, "How can it
happen? There's no way that I can return to my mother's womb and be born again." And I do not
believe that he was being facetious, I think that he was just really curious as to, "What do you
mean, born again?" And then Jesus said, "Unless a man is born of the water and of the Spirit."
Now, what does He mean water and Spirit? We know what it is to be born of the Spirit. What is
He referring to being born of the water? There are those who declare that He is talking about
water baptism. Unless you have been baptized in water, you're not going to see the kingdom of
heaven, and that born of the water refers to water baptism.
I do not believe that Jesus is referring to water baptism here, because I believe that
there are people who have gone through the ritual of water baptism who are not going to see the
kingdom of heaven. It was only a ritual.
There are those who say the water refers to the Word of God. As Peter in his first epistle,
chapter l, verse 23, said that we've been "begotten unto this living hope through the Word of
truth." And so, we've been born again through the Word of God. And Jesus said in John l5, "Now
you are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you." And so it is being born of the
Word of God. And, the theological giants have taken their positions and there are those who say
water baptism and those who say born through the Word God, and they write their commentaries
and their ideas and thoughts and blast each other's ideas.
But, it would seem to me that being born of the water would be a reference to our natural
birth, as the fetus is in that water sac being protected, and then there is the water bursting and
the child is born. To be born of the water would refer to the natural birth, because in context then,
Jesus said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which born of the Spirit is spirit." And
so, He's talking about the two births: born of the water, and born of the Spirit. And that the born
of the Spirit is referring to the new birth, the spiritual birth that we have, where born of the water
would refer to the fleshly birth.
Now, I don't intend to make any brief for this position. If you want to believe that it refers
to water baptism, you're welcome. If you want to believe that it is referring to being born by the
Word of God, you're welcome. And if you want to believe it is being born of the flesh, you're
welcome. You can take whatever position you want and it's not going to alter your relationship
with God one iota. But there are these positions that people take, and sometimes they get very
argumentive with them, but I have no argument.
We do know that that which is born of the flesh is flesh. You were born once, naturally,
of the flesh. You are not a child of God by natural birth, you are a child of God by the spiritual
birth. Paul the apostle, talking about your life before Christ, said, "And you, hath He made alive,
who were once dead in trespasses and sins; who in times past walked according to the course of
this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, that even now works in the children of
disobedience: among whom you all once lived, according to the lust of your mind, and the lust of
your flesh; and you were by nature the children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:1-3) Not the children of
God, the children of wrath. It is only by a new birth that I become a child of God.
So that which is born of the flesh is flesh. A person apart from the new birth lives a life
that is dominated by his fleshly desires. His body rules over his soul and spirit. In fact, his spirit is
dead. That's what comes alive when a person is born again, the spiritual birth, that is when my
spirit comes alive. Prior to that, I am living in the flesh and after the flesh, and my mind is
dominated by the flesh, and thus, I have what the scripture terms the mind of the flesh, which is
death. My chief concern is what I'm going to eat, what I'm going to drink, what I'm going to wear.
My fleshly needs, my body needs. These are the things that occupy my mind.
But when a person is born of the Spirit, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Then, the
spirit becomes alive and begins to rule within my life, and now my mind is occupied with the
things of the Spirit, with how I might please God, in the worship of God, in the opening up of my
life and my heart unto the things of God and of His Spirit, and these are the things that now
dominate my mind. A mind dominated by the Spirit is called the mind of the Spirit, which is life
and peace and joy.
So Jesus said,
Don't marvel when I said, you must be born again (3:7).
The word must, again, is one of those words you've got to pay careful attention to,
because there, you're coming to the heart of the issue when a person says, "I must." When God
said, "You must," it is something you need to pay careful heed to, and He said, "You must be
born again." There is no one who will enter the kingdom of heaven who is not born again. He's
talking about if you want to come into the kingdom of heaven, you must be born again. You
cannot come into the kingdom apart from being born again. God's divine imperative for any man
who will come into the kingdom is that spiritual birth, you must be born the second time, born of
the Spirit of God.
In the first chapter of the gospel of John we read, "But as many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which were
born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12-13).
Born again by the Spirit of God.
Now, the wind bloweth where it listeth, and you hear the sound thereof,
but you cannot tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is
born of the Spirit (3:8).
There is that mysterious working of God's Spirit within our lives and we cannot fully
comprehend it or understand it, we just know it. We can see the effects of it. My mother used to
ask me when I was a child, "Can you see the wind?" And I said, "Oh, yes, I can see the wind."
She said, "No, you can't." "Oh, yes, I can, I can see it out there. Look, it's blowing the dust." She
said, "You're seeing the results of the wind. You don't see the wind." I can see the results of the
Spirit. I believe it, I know that the Spirit exists. I have never seen Him, but I can feel His effect
upon my life, it's very real. I can see His effects in the lives of those around me, it is very
obvious. And so are they who are born of the Spirit, there is that mystic work of God's Spirit that I
can recognize, I can feel, I can see that work of God's Spirit within me.
Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? (3:9)
Now, he has asked two questions. Number one: "How can a man be born again?" and
then, "How can these things be?" Jesus doesn't immediately answer the question, but chides him
now.
He said, Are you a teacher of Israel, and don't you know these things?
Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am speaking of those things that I know, and I am
testifying of those things that I have seen; and you do not receive my witness. If I
have talked to you about earthly things, and you did not believe, how will you
believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? (3:10–12)
“If I can't bring to your understanding a faith in these earthly things, how can I ever
elevate you to a higher place? You're a teacher, you ought to know these things?" Now He then
turned and answered the question, "How can these things be? How can I be born again?" Having
chided him for his not believing, not receiving the witness that Jesus said I know is true.
He then said to him,
For as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of man be lifted up (3:14).
Here Jesus is talking about His cross. Notice again the word must. "Even so must the
Son of man be lifted up." If there is to be the possibility of redemption, if there is to be an
experience of being born again, it can only be by the Son of man being crucified, so must the
Son of man be lifted up. He uses a very interesting example out of their history in the Old
Testament found in Numbers 2l, where the children of Israel, after their failure to enter into the
land, and Moses began to take the route around towards Edom up through Moab and Ammon,
coming into the land from the east, the people began to murmur and complain against Moses,
saying, "Why did you bring us into this wilderness to die, where there is no bread or water, and
our souls loathe this manna? We're sick of it."
And the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people of Israel, and God sent these
little serpents into the camp, fiery serpents, deadly serpents. They began to bite the people and
the people began to die as a result of the bites. And they came to Moses and they said, "We
have sinned against you and against the Lord by our murmuring. Pray unto God for us that we
might be delivered from this plague of serpents." And Moses prayed unto the Lord and the Lord
told him to make a serpent out of brass and to put it on a pole, and to stand it up in the middle of
the camp. And it shall come to pass that whenever a man is bitten by one of these fiery serpents,
if he will just look at the pole in the middle of the camp, he will be healed, he will live. And so
Moses made a serpent of brass, put it on a pole, set it up in the middle of the camp; and it came
to pass that whosever was bitten by this serpent, when they looked upon that serpent on the
pole, they were healed, they did not die. Therein you find the basis for that little symbol that the
doctors use, the serpent on the pole, for healing. But brass in the scripture is always a metal that
is symbolic of judgment, and the serpent is always symbolic of sin. So, the brass serpent on the
pole was a symbol that God had judged their sins. And by looking at that, they were healed. They
did not die.
Now, this is an interesting provision that God made, and by what process looking upon
the serpent could save a person's life. You know, there's no physical or scientific explanation for
this. It was just God's covenant! God's provision. And He said, "All you have to do is look and
you will live." Now, I can imagine that there were some hard heads there in Israel, lying on the
ground convulsing as a result of the snakebite, about to die. And their friends say, "Hey, in the
middle of the camp Moses set up that pole of the brass serpent. Just look at it and you'll be
healed." "Don't tell me that, man, that's ridiculous. I can't make sense out of that. How can
looking at that do anything for me? Don't you see, I'm dying, man! I need help!" "Yah, but just
look!" "Ah, come on, how can that help?" And I can see him arguing and dying because he can't
understand how looking would help.
People are foolish. Unless they can understand all the processes by which God is
working, they won't accept it. I can't explain to you how that believing in Jesus Christ can cleanse
you of your sin and cause you to be born again and become a child of God. All I can tell you is it
will. It works. That's what God has ordained. Jesus, hanging on the cross, was bearing the
judgment of God for your sins. "All we like sheep have gone astray, we turn, everyone of us, to
our own ways. And God has laid on Him the iniquities of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). "As Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up. " And Jesus, hanging there on
the cross, was there taking the judgment of God for sin, dying for our sins, dying in our place.
And even as those in the days of Israel looked at the serpent and lived, so we, by looking at the
cross in faith and in trusting in Jesus, live. We have eternal life. And so, it was quite an
interesting parallel, symbolism that God had established.
How can a man be born again? How can these things be? They are the result of simply
believing in Jesus Christ.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life
(3:15).
God's provisions given to us through faith. Like the wind, you may see the effects, you
may see the results and feel the effects; though it's a mystery, you can't tell whence it comes or
where it's going, so is that man born of the Spirit. The process is of God's Spirit; we can't fully
understand, we just know they exist.
How can a man be born again? How can these things be?
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (3:16).
Again, the key is believing in Jesus. That's the provision that God has required for those
to be born again. You are born again when you, by faith, believe in Jesus Christ, that He bore
God's judgment for your sins in His death upon the cross, and you receive Him into your life. You
are then born again by the Spirit of God and have become now a new creature in Jesus Christ, a
son of God, a child of the King. Believing in Him, that is the key.
Then Jesus went on to declare to Nicodemus,
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John 3
By Chuck Smith