Classic Christianity – Book of John Part 10 (04-22-19)
Bob resumes the study of the gospel of John. He is currently teaching from John chapter 3 where Nicodemus meets Jesus at night and Jesus explains to him what it means to be born again of the Spirit of God. This is one of the most important chapters because it teaches us how to enter a brand new relationship with Christ Jesus. We not only come to him to be our Lord and Savior but also to be our teacher.
Bob interviewed with Jim Armstrong when he was graduating from college. They made an offer and Bob accepted their offer to be trained by them. He was not trained by Ford Motor company but by Jim Armstrong. There was an agreement to be trained by them. Bob came to be trained by them. The same thing is true with Jesus. You and I, born again in Christ Jesus, have come to be trained and equipped by Jesus to have our minds renewed and for Jesus to be our source of everything we do. You and I have come to be trained.
When you join the military, you joined to be trained by that branch of the military you joined. When you joined the Army you are not trained on what you do on a ship. You do that when you join the Navy. Our trainer is the Holy Spirit of God who lives in us.
John 17:25-26
25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
We came to Jesus to be trained and equipped by him to do the ministry he has called us to. We have the privilege that the people of the world do not have. We who are in Christ Jesus, who have accepted the offer from God, to come to the Son of God and we say, “I do.” We could say that we were married to Jesus. It is a privilege to be taught, to have the mind renewed and be taught truth to set us free. The people of the world cannot be taught of God until indwelt by God.
1 Corinthians 2:14
The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
Only until a person becomes a spiritual being can he understand spiritual truth. What a privilege we have!
1 Corinthians 3:5-7
5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe — as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
We have the privilege to be trained by God himself!
Romans 5:1-3
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
Every day the Holy Spirit is equipping us to be trained with truth. Truth separates us, who are in Christ, from the world. There is so much gobbly-gook in the world, with manipulation and lies. The world of politics is where it can so clearly seen. The government lies to us every day. In the world, people manipulate, twist and spin and do all kinds of things and sit back and think nothing of it. I would like certain people in office but that will not change one thing in this world. If they do not have Christ and are not led by the Holy Spirit, there is not much to hope for. What then should our priorities be? Would you rather see a man saved than to see a man elected?
John 18:36
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
Although we are in this world, we are not of the world. You do not have to get all engrossed in things of this world, that is here today and gone tomorrow. The things of this world will continue to go down hill unless have people who have the Holy Spirit and are led by the Holy Spirit.
1 Timothy 4:8
For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
The ability to be plugged into truth instead of the world which is constantly deceiving is a privilege. Advertising is nothing more than a lure. We stay in the world with the proclamation of truth. What separates us from the world? Integrity and honesty is part of it.
Do you know someone going through all kinds of things, business not going well, wife mad at him and he is stressed out? So he goes to a doctor to get pills to treat his stress. Is stress unusual? Not if you live in this world it is not. Is it unusual to experience anxiety? If it is so unusual, then why does God say to us to not be anxious?
Philippians 4:5-7
5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
It is not unusual to be anxious or God would not have had to tell us to not be anxious.
Is it unusual to have fears? If it is unusual to have fears, then why does God say to fear not.
Isaiah 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
You do not have to fear.
John 16:33
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
“Fear not”, God says, “for I have overcome the world.” God did not say, “Come to Prosaic and I will give you rest for your soul.”
Jesus is the solution to the heartaches of man. Jesus is the one who can calm the heart permanently.
Matthew 11:29
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
There is a temporary peace of this world that one experiences by a mountain-side stream but once you leave the mountain-side the peace is gone. But Jesus gives you peace beyond understanding in the midst of the storms of life.
John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 16:33
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.
John 3:16
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.
What is the opposite? Whoever does not believe shall perish and will not have God’s life but have eternal death.
That is not being negative. That is not being judgmental but being unbelievably practical. Salvation is being saved from the consequences of death, which is sin, by the gift of God, which is life in Christ Jesus. Buddha cannot save you. Mohammad cannot save you. The pope cannot save you. Martin Luther cannot save you. Bob George cannot save you. Nobody can save you except Jesus. Only the resurrected living Jesus can give you life.
John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
It is the truth. Apart from Jesus you are not going to see eternal life. It is not a Christian thing. The truth is that you are dead and in need of life. The only life available to you is in Jesus Christ.
John 3:17
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Man is already condemned because he has not believed in God’s provision for life. Jesus Christ is the only available life for man.
John 3:18
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
People believe in anything except Jesus. People go to all kinds of sources except Jesus. People go to get Prosaic. The Jews went to Moses. The world is already under the death penalty. That is why man needs new life.
God came to save the world through Jesus. He saw what Satan had done to the world. Satan, the fall of man and lies perpetuated through people keeps people dead in sin and bound. Satan tries to keep people away from understanding sin. So many we see dead as a hammer every day. So God sent His Son not to condemn an already condemned world but to save it from the consequences of sin, which is death.
John 10:10
The thief [Satan] comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Whoever believes is not condemned. When you do not believe you are condemned. Why? Because you not have not received the provision of God for salvation. You accepted religion and good deeds. It is nicer to do good than bad. Nothing wrong in doing good but that does not get you to heaven. Only living people go to the living God. The dead do not go there. They go to the place of the dead.
You are free from condemnation when you believe. There is a by product of sin called death. The by-product of jumping out of an airplane without a parachute is a certain death. Gravity grabs you and you are going down. You decided to take a smoke outside.
John 3:18
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
If we believe that and truly do believe that with all your heart and soul then you are going to the Father. If we see so many people who do not believe then why are we not tenacious in sharing truth with men. “They are good people”, people say. Have you heard interviews with murderers and rapists? They basically say they are a good person. Jesus said no one is good but God alone.
Mark 10:18
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.
Where we live, work and play are people who are dead and more than anxious to tell you about the New Age, reincarnation, Hare Krishna and we sit back and say nothing. The world is dead. People without Christ are dead and stay dead until they come alive. Be truthful as to what the word of God proclaims. The wages of sin called death is for everyone born in the world with the option to receive life.
John 3:19-21
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
That was the teaching of Jesus to Nicodemus and to you and me today. Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again.
John 3:3-8
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
In verse 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born again. Nicodemus was thinking on a human level so in verse 4, Nicodemus asked, “How can that be?” In verse 5 Jesus provides clarifying information as to what he meant. In verse 5, the phrase “born of water and the Spirit” has been a misunderstood phrase by people today. There are those who teach that this water is what infant baptism is about. But in verse 6, Jesus explains what he means when he says “flesh gives birth to flesh but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. Water is referring to the sac of water that breaks when a pregnant woman gives birth. That is physical birth. The second birth, being born from above, is what “Spirit gives birth to spirit” means. The physical birth comes first and then the spiritual birth. Nobody has ever been born again without being born physically first. God has to create you spiritually. No man born in sin has any spiritual life in him to give. Nicodemus did not understand that you have to be born again from above.
John 3:10-15
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
God has to create you spiritually. Born again spiritually is to be raised again by God. Jesus explains this new birth with an illustration in Jewish history. In Numbers 21, Moses was instructed to erect a bronze serpent on a pole so that anyone who just looked upon it would not die of a poisonous snake bite and would live. They just had to believe in what God had said. So too if anyone but believes in what God has done when he raised Jesus from the dead on the cross will have eternal life.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
John 3:13-15
13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
You cannot learn heavenly things from earthly people but you must understand heavenly things from heavenly people. Every one of us has the potential to be taught from above, with truth and not error. For a relationship with God, to be born from above, you believe what the son of God came to do. He came to take away the sins of the world, never to see them again. He took away all sin.
People say they understand Jesus died for their past sins but then wonder about their future sins. How many sins were in the future when Jesus died? All of them. Jesus came to take away the sins of the entire world, the entire world. Not a man born whose sins have not been reconciled by God.
Romans 5:10
For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
Have all people appropriated what Jesus did? No. Was it done for you and me? Yes. Were Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler’s sins taken away? Yes, their sins were all taken away too. People hear that and cannot accept that as true. They even get mad at you for saying such things. Jesus took away all the sins of the world when he shed his blood on the cross. It was an eternal sacrifice for sin. If deny that and deny the consequences of sin, called death, and refuse to come to the only source of life in Jesus, then you will die in your sins.
John 8:24
I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
Colossians 2:13-14
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
God made you alive with who? Christ. And He forgave what? Sins. How many? All of them.
God’s provision for you at the cross can only be received in his resurrected life. That is also why Paul said that without the resurrection we are to be pitied of all men and if he was not raised, then we have not been raised either. And if we are not raised then we remain dead in sin. If you do not believe in the resurrection, you are still in your sins. People preach about Jesus death but not many on his resurrection. The Jews knew about the cross but denied the resurrection. Paul and the disciples were killed for preaching of the resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:12-18
12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
John 3:22-23
22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized.
This passage seems to indicate Jesus baptized. But by turning to John 4, you realize that the Jews, or Pharisees, only thought he baptized. John 4 provides more clarifying information.
John 4:1-2
1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.
Jesus did not baptize anyone. Who gave salvation? Who died on the cross, was raised from dead and is seated at the right hand of God? Jesus. Who baptized you? Not Jesus. Yet people today still think get saved by dunking in water.
Baptism is not in salvation. Baptism has nothing to do with salvation. You are just dunked in water. If baptism saved you then lost if Jesus did not baptize you. Otherwise Jesus would have had to baptize you. If saved by baptism, who would have to baptize you? Jesus. Only Jesus saves.
John 3:24-26
24 (This was before John was put in prison.) 25 An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. 26 They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”
Another name for baptism is ceremonial washing. The Essenes, a strict Jewish sect even before the time of Christ, camped out in the desert near the dead sea and this is where many manuscripts found by archaeologists today. They were a very devout people. Some think John the Baptist was an Essene. They went in the desert to live, and were devout religious people. Part of the lifestyle was ceremonial washing. All through Israel find baptismal pools. If want to get clean did ceremonial washing before approaching God.
