There's a lot of data, by the way, on the effectiveness of a gap year program for students maturity focus My son did a different gap year program and it's not an exaggeration to say that it was life-changing for him So huge fan if you're even remotely open to it look into it Joshua wilderness is clearly one of the best alright Hope you're ready to rock and roll because we are in we are John chapter three So if you have your bibles take them out But I want to start by a couple things first off if you had a chance to read in whole or in part the gospel John Did anybody just make an observation that jumped out to maybe didn't notice before maybe one or two before we start off go ahead, please oh You never noticed it when they went to the tomb you had to duck down and come in which you never thought about the size of the tomb Before okay, that's interesting and this is just some of the incidental detail which John gives us It's for in the afternoon. They went up to Jerusalem. They duck down into the temple and guess what when we find I'm sorry Not the temple into the tombs when we find tombs like this they actually match the description and John you go up to Jerusalem So fascinating detail anybody else one more Please Okay, you thought there were people who wanted to believe but it was too good to be true like who does one stand out for you in particular They were afraid for reasons we're gonna get into They wanted to believe but couldn't and there's barriers to belief that does come up a lot in the gospel John Good, I there's an observation for me that jumped out It has to be in the chapter that we're reading is on the first day I asked you if you look at member back in John chapter one it says Jesus is a light to who? Everyone remember this he's a light to everyone.
I thought well Universalist could say he's a light therefore everybody has salvation but that doesn't fit John chapter three it occurred to me that it says Jesus is the light for everybody some people come to the light but other people because they love darkness Refuse to come to the light so he is the light for all Some people choose to follow the light and step into it some people choose to reject it John three brought full circle to me in my mind I connected those dots in many ways That's how I approach reading something like the gospel John in most books in the Bible There's one theme of the book that ties it all together So the book of Daniel the theme of Daniel is about the sovereignty of God and when you see that all of the stories start to fall Into place the gospel of mark is about Jesus being the son of God That's why mark 1529 the centurion says truly he was the son of God John the theme of it is in captured in chapter 20 verse 30 and 31 that jesus did miracles so that people would believe by believing Have eternal life So like a movie one of my favorite things to teach maybe this is some other time I'll teach this is movie analysis. How do we think about films and by the way? You had me at the Joshua will nurse until I said nine months without movies I was like I'm out not that I would do a gap here at 50 That's a whole separate issue kid in a side But I love watching movies and analyze the message and idea and themes that are in film any movie that's done Well, we'll have a key theme of the movie and then everything in the film advances that idea the song does the costumes do the dialogue Does nothing is accidental in a film when you learn to watch it that way It's all placed and scripted there very very carefully. So think of movies like Titanic the whole theme is existentialism We were living by chance let yourself go seize the day so to speak follow your heart Everything that movie builds towards that in John that consistent theme weds it together So in every part of John I can ask myself why did John include this how is he advancing the story by this?
It's not accidental It's like a puzzle once you have the top of the puzzle all the pieces fit together And I'm just trying to connect it in my mind when you make those connections then you understand the book in a different way Now John one let's review how does John one start You know this and began was the word and the word was God and the word was with God first five verses as high of a Christology You can get then pivots to John who's the first witness who testifies about Jesus John is not Elijah He's not the prophet. He's not the Messiah, but he points towards the one who is Jesus calls his disciples Andrew Philip Peter Nathaniel and then in John chapter two we have the first miracle turning water into wine and the abundance of wine shows what the messianic era is here that's Amos 9-3 So he does the first miracle shows his glory, but only to his servants and only to kind of his mother and his brother It's it's tight knit, but then it says he does many other signs But he wouldn't trust himself to people why because he knew what was what? Inside the heart of man John chapter three picks up with Jesus having done enough to reveal himself to the world That now a religious leader is partly wondering who is this guy Jesus and then he comes to him in quiet of him at night That's where we are in John chapter three. All right, so we will get through John chapter three tonight lord willing Here we go.
All right, so it says John three verse one there was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus A ruler of the jews. Now. What do we know about the Pharisees? We know the Pharisees along with the Sadducees and the Rodian family are the three main enemies of Jesus They're not necessarily friends, but they're all opposed to Jesus What made the Pharisees distinct is that they were committed to the law they were less committed to the temple So probably would not have been upset by Jesus clearing the temple the Sadducees were all about the power of the temple So in 80 70 when the temple is destroyed, how is the Sadducees?
They're gone from history, but the Pharisees continue because you can always interpret the law in terms of what does it mean to follow the law now without the temple Both Jesus and Paul would have had some Phariseical training behind them Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews So he's probably older and he comes to Jesus to inquire of him So here's a ruler of the jews probably much older than Jesus And he's approaching Jesus. We're going to see privately now. There's two other examples. We learned about Nicodemus in john's Anybody remember where else he shows up by any chance?
Three times He does so not actually doesn't show up in his trial So she's making him shows up in john seven when they're debating about who Jesus is in his identity Nicodemus speaks up and says our law says Shouldn't we hear somebody out and understand who they are before we condemn him? So he pops up half a third of the way through the gospel somewhat defending Jesus but again somewhat cryptically and reserved Then he shows up with Joseph arimathea with the spices giving him an honorable burial So the story of Nicodemus is really interesting. We don't know anything else about Nicodemus apart from the gospel john There's another character named Nicodemus. Some try to tie to this Nicodemus, but I think it's unlikely He's nowhere else in the New Testament from history So why does john include him by name?
He could have just said a ruler comes to Jesus at night But he mentions who he was mentions that he was a part of the jewish jewish leadership the sanhedrin and also that he was a ruler Friends jewell is not that big People would have known who he was now we're gonna come back to more about Nicodemus But this is a figure who approaches him from the fairsies He's a ruler of the jews Versuit it said this man came to him at night and said rabbi we know your teacher who's come from god For no one could perform these signs you do unless god were with him Now a couple things by this. Why does he come to him at night? Now, what do you think? He's right here on tell me why is Nicodemus come to him at night?
What do you think? So other people wouldn't know that he's there now Why would he be concerned that other people know that he's there? Now we don't have any tension yet in the story between the fairies and jesus it really bubbles up in five But he obviously senses right away that the fairiesies don't like and approve of who this person jesus They're already kind of grilling john. Who are you?
What's your position? They kind of want to know because they feel threatened by this So one possibility is he comes at night because he's hiding himself and doesn't want people to know that he's approaching jesus Now does the text say that? All it says is he came to him at night. Other possibilities were jesus was pretty busy during the day He didn't have the time the other reality is that the jew jewish leadership the rabbi's would debate at night long into the evenings It was common to have these discussions at night My suspicion for what it's worth is that you're right that he came to night It was a little bit more secretive less likely to be known and why is that my suspicion and the main reason is because niggademus What did he say?
Why does he come to jesus and what does he call him by the way? So he calls him a rabbi and he calls him a teacher which is true, but not quite the gleaming Testimony about jesus of saying the faniel that says he's what? Son of god king of Israel niggademus is not there calls him rabbi and teacher which is true But it seems to be indicating that he's curious about jesus Recognizes some authority some might argue that he's been in sincere here and flattering him But why would he do that and show but not talk with him? I don't know that I'm convinced of that So it comes to him at night.
What drew him to jesus according to text? What did I just read what it say? the signs Some of the signs that jesus had done Now again, what's the purpose of john the signs are written so you might believe and have eternal life So the signs are functioning in the way they're supposed to getting the attention of a religious leader But does it ever tell us that niggademus believe don't answer that think about that Now we see later Before we go any further a lot of what john is doing is comparing and contrasting different responses to the person of jesus So we're going to circle back to john the baptist An amazing witness new his role did it andrew we got the messiah Let's go fill up goes and tells the faniel and if annual is like convinced he's in the woman at the well the next chapter When she knows who jesus she goes and tells the whole town But the paralytic who've been paralyzed 38 years doesn't go tell anybody Except for the jews So he's not the kind of witness he's supposed to be well. Where does niggademus fall into this?
He recognizes enough about jesus, but he might be like the blind man's parents in john chapter 9 Who are afraid to proclaim that jesus is the one who healed The blind man why because they'd be kicked out of the synagogue In fact it full circle in john 12 is those who were afraid to testify about him because they feared man more than they feared god Could that be going on with niggademus? I don't know for sure, but I suspect niggademus is like, okay, you've got my attention Tell me more, but i'm not quite fully in so he comes to him at night. That's my suspicion I haven't heard a better explanation than that one let's keep going and then we'll stop as we go along if you have questions and thoughts, okay So jesus says no one could perform the signs you do unless god were with him verse three jesus replied truly i tell you unless someone is born again, he cannot see the king with god now what i love about this jesus is like hey Tell me about your position tell me about your family where you're from he's just like unless you're born again You cannot see the king of god like i love that jesus like what are we doing here cut to the chase Now what does he say when he says unless somebody is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of god That's not language you see a lot in john the kingdom of god you see in the synathics I I don't think there's a huge difference here. I think he's saying unless you're born again Which he implies in this chapter means to believe you cannot have eternal life I think he's saying the same thing in a different way.
That's my suspicion, but let's see how the story goes So jesus jumps in and says unless you're born again He cannot see the king of god Nicodemus responds with two questions. He says how can anyone be born when he's old? Nicodemes asked can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be born Now here's a theme you see all the time over the gospel john jesus is making a spiritual point And he uses an earthly example and it's completely lost on his audience Unless you know you eat my flesh and drink my blood like what are you talking about this bread of life? How do you eat this and every hunger again drink living water?
How do I drink water and never be thirsty again? Unless you're born again. How can you be born a second time? It's like people are not getting it not getting it not getting it including his disciples All the way through the gospels and specifically in the gospel john Okay, so what does he mean by born again?
This is gonna get us into debates, but clearly Nicodemus doesn't understand it Now notice one other observation in verse three. How did jesus begin his response? What did he say? Truly truly I say to you you will see this three times in john chapter three Truly I say to you truly I say to you truly I say to you My suspicion is because he's not just talking with a woman at the well who figures out He's a prophet because he knows something to know he's speaking to a jewish authority And so he's speaking with authority.
It's kind of like when jesus would say a men I say to you Like who speaks that way only somebody with a certain level of authority This is true. Let me tell you he says it three times in this passage Okay, all right, then he says verse five jesus answered This the second time first time was verse three and then jesus answered when he asked how can he enter in his mother's room a second time Truly I tell you unless someone was born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of god Now let's stop for a minute and talk about this Just twice says you need to be born in a certain fashion to enter the kingdom of god But he says unless you're born of water and the spirit you can't enter the king of god Now, what are some options of what this might mean Being born of the water and the spirit Water could be the natural earth. I remember the first time of my 22-year-old son when my wife's water burst Somebody says you must born to water and the spirit one possibility common to say is you must be born of natural physical flesh and you must be born spiritually that's a possibility. What's another possibility?
Baptism good now. This is a common one We've actually seen in the past two or three years I've seen a fracturing in the larger church that I've never seen before in my lifetime In fact the idea of a mere Christianity or a Billy Graham figure that ties broad christened him together is gone Now we're seeing more debates and more division over issues like orthodoxian Catholicism that I have not seen in at least my experience So debates about baptism bubble up and people are talking about this all the time In fact this week outside huge social media video the guy who's like of course he's catholic And he's like you think the bible says you don't need to be baptized in order to be saved jesus said you have to born of water You have to be born a spirit like drops his mic. I was like, okay So one interpretation is baptism and you have to have spiritual birth. You have to have both Any other interpretation of this because I don't think either of those are actually correct Okay, the living water.
What do you mean by the living water? Okay. Now we're john chapter three what chapters that in? It's later on fair enough What chapters that in and who's he speaking to?
woman at the well john chapter what john chapter four So what do I say the first night never read a Bible verse don't read one verse always look at the context Now the following chapter jesus talks about living water now hold that thought for a second I'll give you my two cents on this there Although when we think of being born and your water bursting according to some commentaries that I look at natural birth was never Described as water in this way. It was never a way that it was described So that's a phenomena that happens at birth not impossible in the text john doesn't describe his way rest The scriptures don't describe it this way ancient literature didn't describe birth that way so on its surface seems Somewhat unlikely, but let's keep going hold that one put a pin in it. God bless you my child Baptism what about baptism? Is jesus saying if you want to be saved you have to be baptized and you have to be born of the spirit Now If you read the context as we're reading right here, there's nothing else said in this engagement with nikadimus about baptism Nothing now john the baptist had been baptizing and that story falls after it as well But it sure seems to be in john 3 16 for god so love the world he gave his only begotten son who so ever believes in him And gets baptized will have eternal life That's exactly what it doesn't say From beginning to end of john is that salvation is by what?
By belief it is a drum beat through all of john and in fact john chapter six He says what is the work of god that you believe in the one whom he has sent So not only is that not repeated in john chapter Three it's never repeated the rest of john So am I really supposed to believe that one controversial passage that you can't have salvation unless you're baptized john failed to be more clear about this I just can't that seems so contrary to how clear and repetitive he is you said last night you're like john repeats himself I have a hard time believing that he's talking about baptism here. I actually what's that? Okay, saying the same thing there wait now I think you're you're on to something here Let me keep reading that i'm gonna tie in what I think is going on because I think you're right about the living water But notice in this the next verse this important so gee is answered i'm going back I tell you let someone's born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of god Whoever's born of flesh is flesh whatever's born of the spirit is spirit Now if you go to john chapter seven this is another thing that occurred to me if you turn john chapter seven Unrepassed you that I think is really interesting in the promise of the holy spirit john seven verse 37 So seven 37 ges had gone up and debated the festival and done miracles and said or no wonder who he is It's the last and most important day of the festival ges stood up and cried out if anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink The one who believes in me again believes in me as the scriptures has said will have streams of living water flow from deep within him He said it's about what the spirit the streams of living water is referring to eternal life And who gives eternal life is jesus through what the spirit I actually think if we read that and go back to john chapter three. He's not talking when he says water and spirit He's not talking about two births in the larger context.
He is talking about you must be born again Which only makes sense if you're born once but he's not saying to enter the kingdom of god You have to be born naturally because by the way anybody who's alive where do they come from Born naturally you don't have to be told this this is long before IVF and reproductive technology Long before you don't have to say by the way make sure you're born naturally of water and make sure you're born of the spirit No point in mentioning the first one at all rather grammatically when you look at the greek water and spirit go together They're not too distinct births to be born of water is to be born through the spirit because the water is the living water He talks about in the next chapter in john chapter four Now with that said if we keep going I think it helps it does help clarify so Let me stop it says water spirit. He can enter the kingdom of god whoever's born this flesh is flesh whatever's born to spirit Is spirit don't be amazed that I told you you must be born again Now in some ways I think what jesus is now saying is if you're flesh and you're born you are going to reproduce after your kind In biology we call this the principle of biogenesis things reproduce after their kind now I should have stopped him and go. What does jesus mean here by flesh? What does john mean?
It's different than what paul means. What does paul often mean by flesh? Yeah, your carnal fallen corrupted nature. That's not what jesus means Now how was did flesh come up in john one The word became flesh So he's just talking about physical natural birth So I don't think water in the spirit.
I don't think water is referring to natural birth But I think in the context he's saying there's a natural birth and there's a spiritual birth There's a new birth. There's a new creation of the spirit and that entails amongst other things a living water eternal life So go back to the end of john chapter two. What does it say jesus didn't trust himself to people because he what? He knew what was in the heart of man So if we are naturally born But jesus doesn't trust himself to anybody.
Why? Because humans are fallen What do we have to be? We have to be made new and we have to be born again Because of our fallenness. That's the reason we need to be born again And when I saw that it was like connecting certain dots We reproduce after our kind I don't want to get in the debate of whether we are guilty just because we are born in original sin Or we're born to the corrupted nature and we will sin and be guilty It doesn't matter our minions to calvinus all believe that we are guilty before the law and we will all sin Thus we need to be born again Not just naturally of the flesh, but we have to be born of the spirit and by the way jesus is saying this to who A religious leader of the Jews of the same hedrin That's a pretty bold thing to say and do that's a pretty bold thing.
Okay. All right. Let's keep going And he says uh Don't be amazed. I told you this verse eight the wind blows or pleases and you hear it sound But you don't know where it comes from or where it is going.
So it is with everyone born of the spirit I think he's only making the point that you can't control the spirit There's an element like the wind we don't know where it's coming from how powerful it is It's unpredictable and uncontrollable The same is true with the spirit of god how it works how it acts. I think that's just the point that he's making here I'm not sure it's much deeper than that Nick and he was asked the third question. How can these things be? Are you a teacher of israel and yet you don't know these things Now one of the big objections i'm an apologist so i have to bring this in is people say there's things in the gospel john that are pagan And john is bringing these pagan rituals Into his understanding of jesus so john chapter seven eat my flesh drink my blood That's pagan and somewhat now it's not but that's what the objection says Another state here this idea being born again is a pagan idea from what I just read you How do we know that it's not?
Anybody see it from what I just read you how do we know that it's not Okay, yes, jesus that that's a classic christian answer to everything but what he say that tells us Good Who's he talking to a teacher of israel who's been trained in judeism and rabbinic studies He expects him to understand which means the ideas are embedded where Within judeism and within the old testament not within paganism And one of the side side point i've been pointed out along the way is the question is Is the is Christianity anti-Semitic is the gospel john anti-Semitic? Notice nicodemus. He's what? He's a Jew is he presented sympathetically here Overall as he presented sympathetically, yeah, he doesn't understand certain things but neither do the disciples like nobody gets it There's certain things it's like wake up nicodemus hello, but he approaches jesus shows respect to jesus defends jesus buries jesus Why if the gospel was so anti-Semitic Would they have examples positive examples of witnesses who were jewish by the way who else buried jesus josus ermethia a Jew we won't get there but fast forward to john chapter 11 with Lazarus i never noticed this where it says that some of the jews were there consoling mary maria and martha There's a positive portrayal some fall jesus and some don't See idea that christian is just demonizing jews is false and it's not embedded in this jesus jewish his disciples are jewish His message is first for the jews some of the jews are presented sympathetically It's just false when we read the gospel on its own merits All right, we're not even close to being there, but we're gonna make it here we go So first hand and you answer this beautifully are you teacher vision yet?
You don't know these things truly i tell you for the third time We speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen but you do not accept our testimony If i told you about earthly things, you don't believe me how you believe if i tell you about heavenly things No one has ascended into heaven except the one who's descended from heaven the son of man Now we speak to what we have seen where is jesus from? He is from heaven so he has the right and the authority to speak of heavenly things Friends here's a dividing line of people who i think end up leaving their faith They come to the point where they think they're more compassionate and they know better than jesus I just can't accept the god would send somebody to hell well friends jesus taught it Are you more compassionate than jesus? That's the question i'm not like everything that jesus says if it was up to me i mean i wouldn't because i know jesus taught it But i'd be tempted to get rid of the doctrine of hell it makes me uncomfortable I've loved one to think about going there but mark nine math 13 math u 25 jesus taught an eternal punishment And he hints at it somewhat strongly in john The question is does jesus have the authority and will we listen to him? So if i told you hey after the session tonight, i'm gonna go to a clinic on uh, had be an nfl quarterback None of you should show up.
I got nothing. I got nothing but if my man herbert showed up Y'all go listen to him He's got the authority and credentials to speak about being an nfl quarterback Who has the authority to speak about heavenly things Well, if jesus was born of a virgin and he pre-existed and he lived a sinless life and he performed miracles He fulfilled prophecy and he rose on the third day I'm going with that guy whether i like it or understand it or not That's the message jesus given here Trying to get nikadimis to see this You don't even listen to people on earthy things. What about heavenly things and jesus is the one who's from heaven Now very quickly jesus referred himself as what here what title does he give himself? The son of man.
This is really important. I say thing for years that son of god meant jesus is divine son of man meant jesus was human that's not what it means Son of man is a stronger divine term than the son of god Now there are other sons of man a son of man But jesus is called the son of man Now what's fascinating about this term is historians have certain criteria who don't begin with the idea of the bible Or to god to try to see if they can trust certain statements of jesus and there's one criteria called double dissimilarity Meaning if you don't see people before jesus in ancient jesus using the term or a title And then you don't see people using it afterwards It wasn't imported on jesus from the later church and it wasn't borrowed earlier It probably goes back to jesus himself the favored title jesus has for himself is the son of man Now if you jump forward to mark chapter six mark chapter 14 when he's on trial and they ask if he's the christ What does he say he says i am and you will see me coming on the clouds of heaven and he cites daniel chapter seven He says i am the son of man If you read down to chapter seven that is a divine figure that jesus is calling himself This is another hint in the gospel of john that jesus sees himself as the ancient of days jesus sees himself as distinct from the father But is god Don't miss that title son of man. They're not speaking about jesus. He's speaking about himself by the way Very important title.
Okay, verse 14 just as moats lifted up the snake in the wilderness. So the son of man Must be lifted up Now what happened what is he talking about? Can anybody tell what's happening in this story? Who is they?
Okay, not Abraham Moses. Okay, it's good. That's all right. You say Abraham get it wrong throw mozz in there if not throwing jesus It's got to be one of the three Now this is a number chapter 21.
So this is they've left the promise land I'm sorry. They've left egypt. They're not yet in the promise land. They're wandering 40 years The people are whining like crazy.
God gets tired of it Sends down fiery snakes who goes after the people and to be safe that he tells mozz is to make what? A bronze serpent put it up lifted up and if they looked at it then they would be healed or they would be spared Now that is what we call a type of christ It's a hint in the Old Testament a suggestion for shadowing what we would see to greater degree in the person of jesus So you might say the people sin and there's a curse Summit leads to death and to be saved they have to look up in a sense trust God to be spared Based on something that will be up and lifted up Jesus is pointing back going yeah, you remember that in numbers that was really about what? That was actually about me Now if that's not about him, that's like full-on heresy. Do you understand how radical everything jesus saying here?
He's going yeah, that was about me Similarly, I have to be lifted up and he's referring to what? The cross and his crucifixion Which means it's the cross and crucifixion by which people are what? People are saved so remember we're in the context of being born again And what's he talking about? He's pointing back to the Old Testament and he's going to bring it around to the importance of belief in him and what he accomplished on the cross All right, he says so the son man must be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him May have eternal life and then the most famous verse probably in the history of the world We're not even looking about we're august eight together you ready for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Whosoever believed in him shall not perish but have everlasting life or eternal life Now a few things about this it says for God so loved the world What's meant by the world?
Because the world means different things Sometimes the world means the corrupted nature that we're supposed to escape and not be a part of John talks about this in first John Later the gospel he says we are not of this world That's one sense Sometimes the world is just believers But here I don't believe I don't I don't accept that interpretation it says for God so loved the world referring to what? To everybody To everybody that whoever believes in him has eternal life So there's one sense where God loves everybody enough to take the first step And offer his son as a sacrifice so whoever believes has eternal life Now you're not a child of God unless you believe and accept that sacrifice But God loves the world enough to take the initiative while we were yet sinners send a son And you know this But I know what you love by what you're willing to sacrifice for Your time your money your energy all of us are making sacrifices for what's important to us Talk is cheap. It's where what we sacrifice for shows our priorities and shows what we love What's the greatest thing you can give? Your life You cannot give something greater than your life now what is interesting about this passage though is what for God's love the world He gave his only begotten son I would gladly lay down my life for my family there would I wouldn't even have to hesitate about it But what I offer my son for an enemy whoo That changes the metric doesn't it now by the way?
This isn't God just saying oh here's my son because we see in John 10 What does Jesus say I lay down my life and I take it up again That's important to keep in mind But we see the love of God in the same way we see our own love by what we're willing to sacrifice for By what we value you cannot give something greater than your life And by the way, Jesus is the life. He's the source of life and is the one who gives that up For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world verse 17 verse 18 I've memorized and one who believes in him is not condemned but anyone who does not believe is already condemned Because he has not believed in the name of the one and only son of God There's two types of people in the world friends my coach at biola I play basketball biola and my coach is still there and I remember he would always say there's two types of people in the world Those who return their shopping carts and those who don't So all my family always returns their shopping carts and really that illustrates Are you somebody who creates work for somebody else or are you somebody who actually helps? And it's not high maintenance towards other people some you will never be able to shop again. Will you?
You'll think of that every single time you're like darn it. I'm that guy Jesus says there's two types of people those who believe those who don't those who are condemned to eternal death Those who believe in a granted eternal life, but guess what if you don't yet believe what are you You are already in the group of those who are condemned You don't have to choose condemnation, but you have to choose life You don't have to choose condemnation. That's our natural state But you do have to choose life. It's one or the other So anybody says jesus doesn't believe in condemnation and perishing for eternal life hasn't read the bible Or thinks that they're more compassionate than jesus was Good luck with that in my metric Uh, this is the judgment the light has come into the world people love darkness Rather than the light because their deeds were evil For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it so that his deeds may not be exposed I know who lives by the truth comes to the light so his worst may be shown to be accomplished by god This should remind all of us of roman's chapter one That god reveals himself through creation and everybody knows it but what they suppress the truth because of what?
Unrighteousness because of wickedness I'm actually convinced most people don't really love truth I really don't think most people love truth. This is seperate talk. Let me ask you a couple of questions Once the last time you changed your mind on something You haven't changed your mind on anything of remote significance. You think you have it all figured out in everything, right?
Let me look at your podcast feed. You only listen to people who agree with you If so you enjoy comfort more than you enjoy being challenged to follow and seek the truth You have friends with people who have different views than you have You just ask some questions and listen to them but then open this that you might be right and or they might be right It's easy to look at this but yeah those people don't love the truth. Have you sacrificed for truth? Has it ever cost you something?
It's one thing looking at the image about. Oh, yeah, he's not quite willing to speak up for truth But then ask ourselves when have we suffered or paid a price For speaking truth That's what john wants us to do. He wants us to personalize this Our natural tendency is towards condemnation is towards the darkness not towards the light It's only by being born again and the spirit working through us that we're able to go towards the light All right, john the baptist will keep going verse 22 after this Jesus and his disciples went to jay and cutterside where he spent time with them and baptized John was also baptized near selemed because there were plenty of water there people were coming and being baptized since john had not yet been thrown in prison The gospel john does not report the death of john the baptist and I don't know why The other gospels do I don't know why john doesn't he just falls off the map You would think that he would I don't I don't really have an answer for that But verse 25 says then it just be a rose between john's disciples and it's you about purification So they came john told him rabbi the one you testify about who is with you across the jordan is baptizing and everyone is going to him Why do you think they went to john? They're concerned and they're probably thinking hey look you're kind of the main guy here You're the man everybody's coming to you now they're coming to this guy are you threatened by this are you upset by this?
I mean I do wonder how many pastors I don't know the answer to this They said man so many people are now going to this church across town Their response is the same as john the baptist response here And I saw myself this question all the time but look how he responds You might think you get defensive and he says john responded no one can receive anything Unless it has been given to him from heaven Let that sink in you and I are breath our abilities. Whatever talents we have your work ethic all entirely is a gift Can we see why boasting is so ridiculous? You can't make your heart beat can't give yourself breath. You didn't give yourself a body or give yourself your mind You didn't give yourself natural birth.
We can't even control the spirit and give ourselves spiritual worth We just respond to what god would do through us Boasting is idiotic when we realize we have nothing that has not been given to us Nothing Everything is from above You're self-sustained testify that I said I'm not the Messiah, but I've been sent ahead of him He who has the bride is the groom but the groom's friend who stands by enlisted for him rejoices greatly at the groom's voice So the joy of mine is complete he must increase but I must decrease Wow I'm not a tattoo guy. My daughter's trying to talk me to get a tattoo The jury is still out on this one, but I've really I love Hebrews 1039 But I thought about putting john 330 right here. He must increase but I must decrease as a daily reminder It's not about building my kingdom. It's not about building my reputation It's not about me All of us are called to testify all of us are called to be witnesses and not do it out of slavish obedience But what did john the baptist find?
Joy in it He found joy in it. That's the last words. I think unless I missed it I think that's the last words of john the baptist we have in the gospel john Now later when he's thrown in prison what happens then he has doubts because he's human and his emotions creep in But the last thing we're talking about john seems to increase and I must decrease why john is as good of a witness as you will find He knew his role refused to take credit for it found joy in people following the lord And ultimately it cost him his life to speak truth That's a witness That's a witness for the lord And the last part we're messing with this says the one who comes from above is above all the one who is from earthly From the earth is earthly and speaks in earthly terms the one who comes from heaven is above all He testifies to what he's seen and heard and yet no one accepts his testimony The one who has accepted his testimony has affirmed that god is true For the one who god sent speaks god's word since he gives the spirit without measure again That's what he's talking about the wind and you can't measure you can't understand it God is the one who gives the spirit through christ the father loves the son and gives all things into his hand By the way, what else have we learned that god loves father loves the son And he loves the world in some ways the love that the father has for the son He offers to all of us And the one thing the son didn't have to do was repent of his sins to receive it Because he's sinless very clear john 846, which of you can convict me of sin But we're offered the same love that the father has for the son Then says the father loves the son and is given all things into his hand And then in case you happen to think that there's a universal message that all are saved He says the one who believes in the son doesn't say and his baptize is the one who believes in the son has eternal life But the one who rejects the son will not see life instead the wrath of god remains on him Naturally, we're in a state of spiritual death now actually Spiritual death is when somebody is condemned before the lord because of their sins That's what spiritual death is and what does this chapter tell us? People are already spiritually dead If you physically die in a state of spiritual death, what do you enter?
eternal death But if you're in a state of physical death condemnation and you're born again with it's in this chapter means what? To believe in the person of jesus You now have life You've been forgiven. You're not condemned eternal life begins today And then when you die you have it in its fullness That's the message of this chapter So what we see in john chapter three is jesus has called his disciples earlier clears the temple which is messianic authority Turns water into wine shows his supernatural powers does other miracles, but won't quite trust man because he knows what is inside human beings What's the solution of that? You have to be born again of water and of the spirit But this is the living water which jesus is going to talk about next Where we not only have his disciples following him They not only have a religious leader following him but in john chapter four who starts to follow jesus a samaritan woman So remember we says can anything good come out of nazareth remember this Jesus is not following the script we'd expect him to follow and these religious leaders following him You have a samaritan woman following him.
What exactly is this person jesus doing? Well, we're gonna take a look at that tomorrow. So you have an assignment again Read the gospel john or as much as you can of the gospel john Find a quiet place and read it and just try to make one new observation that jumps out to you Tomorrow we're gonna get into john chapter four All right now one way to avoid tough questions is to end right on time I generally like tough questions. So I wish we had time and I will not keep you after but uh read the gospel john And we'll see you tomorrow night.
We're gonna probe into john chapter four fascinating chapter. We'll see you then have good night