We're in our third week of a series we're calling just John because it is the
the book of John that we're gonna be going through for the whole summer and
Scott kicked us off a couple weeks ago and last week we had the special treat
of my high school youth pastor being in town he's one of our spiritual overseers
which basically means that I talk to him on a monthly basis maybe I ask him
questions or he encourages me and it's important for us to know that here at
the house we have elders will pray for people and we have staff but it's really
nice to know that we have pastors outside of our environment that are
also caring about us and speaking into the life of of this church so let's go
ahead and jump in to John chapter 3 if you have your Bibles we'll open to John
chapter 3 goes Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans that way you know you're in
the right neighborhood there's blue Bibles on the tables if you don't have
one otherwise you can grab one on your way out on the way home you can take
one home if you'd like or download a Bible from any of the digital app
stores and then we have a tradition of giving the scriptures our full
attention while they're being read during the sermon and one of the
primaries we do that is that you can join me in standing if you would like otherwise
just give the scriptures your full attention as I read John 3 starting in
verse 1 says this now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus a leader of
the Jews he came to Jesus by night and said to him Rabbi we know that you are a
teacher who has come from God for no one can do these signs that you do unless
God is with that person Jesus answered him very truly I tell you no one can see
the kingdom of God without being born from above Nicodemus said to him how can
anyone be born after having grown old how can you want enter a second time
into the mother's womb and be born Jesus answered very truly I tell you no one
can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and spirit what is
born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the spirit is spirit do not be
astonished that I said what I said to you you must be born from above the wind
blows where it chooses and you hear the sound of it all sound of it but you do
not know where it comes from or where it goes so it is with everyone who is born
of the spirit Nicodemus said to him how can these things be Jesus answered him
are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things very
truly I tell you we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen
yet you do not receive our testimony if I had told you about earthly things and
you do not believe how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things no
one has ascended into heaven except the one who descends from heaven the son of
man and just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so must the
son of man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life
for God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that everyone who
believes in him may not perish but have eternal life let us pray God of every
tribe every tongue every color in every nation we thank you for the scriptures
that they have persisted throughout the millennia that we still have them to
learn from to consider to read and I pray that whatever you have for us to
learn today I pray that it would stick that it would become a part of the
framework of our faith that our faith would become stronger as we become more
like your son Jesus amen amen can all have a seat all right so there is that's
a long passage and we're not gonna go verse by verse through all of it but
there is a ton happening in this chapter first of all verse 1 who's Nicodemus
like that's the first thing that we should ask we're introduced to this new
character who is he we actually know very little about him we know that he
was a leader of the Jews we know that he was a Pharisee we know that he shows up
in the gospel of John three different times and we know that he is the only
Pharisee that John gives a name to in all the Gospels there's only one other
person that's given a name that is a Pharisee Simon Jesus went to his house
for a meal the only other Pharisees maybe some of you think wait well what
about Paul right Paul is said to have been a Pharisee but he's not in the
Gospels so you know technically I'm right you see so you know saying so what is a
Pharisee because you know most of us have not been through seminary or
college Bible classes so what is a Pharisee Pharisee was very much like a
local pastor but there was a large group of them and they were all obsessed with
following the rules of Moses and they didn't just follow the rules they made
up rules about how to follow the rules because John says that he was a leader
of the Jews we can assume that he was either a member of what was called the
Sanhedrin which was this 71 person religious kind of Supreme Court or it
just means that he was well respected among the other Pharisees and that
people would listen to him which is probably the more likely of the two
scenarios why because even though Matthew and Mark and Luke all showed
Jesus standing before the Sanhedrin at the end of their Gospels as he's
condemned to death on a cross as they're handed over to Pilate I should say John
doesn't show this at all John only shows him standing before one person and it's
not Nick Ademus but in chapter 7 of John what we see is that a bunch of
Pharisees are upset that Jesus wasn't arrested and it's Nick Ademus that gives
a legal reason for why he wasn't and they listen it's probably not on the
Sanhedrin but definitely respected among the Pharisees all right that was verse
one everybody that's all just from reading John 3 verse 1 verse 2 ready
Nick Ademus came to see Jesus at night and so we should say why why did he come
by night now this is also probably one of two things the most popular answer is
that he met Jesus at night because he didn't want to be seen he was respected
among the Pharisees we've already established that and he probably wanted
to keep it that way because most the Pharisees did not appreciate Jesus so
that is probably that's possible it may even be the most probable answer but
it's also it was also common for rabbis what does he call him he says rabbi
it's very common for rabbis to stay up late or through the night to study the
law to consider what they were going to say or teach so it's also possible that
Nick Ademus is just kind of visiting Jesus with what we might call office
hours he's like all right this is when Jesus is going to be thinking about
these things anyway let me go see what he has to say now when we put all this
together what I think is important for us to think about here isn't so much
what time Nick Ademus meets Jesus but what we're shown Nick Ademus saying he
says we know that you are a teacher we know that you have come from God that
feels like a really big statement doesn't it now for a modern mind that has
any concept of Christianity at all you might hear that phrase and you might
think that Nick Ademus is going we know that you are God or we know that you are
the son of God but that's not at all what Nick Ademus is actually getting at
so what is he saying well for that we need to know a little bit more about the
Pharisees one of the reasons that Pharisees were so obsessed with the
rules is that they thought that the more obedient that they were to the rules the
more likely God would bring his kingdom the more likely it was that they would
no longer be under the thumb of their enemies and that they would be able to
rule on earth under the Lordship of God this is why Nick Ademus has come to
Jesus because Jesus has come doing miracles Jesus has come preach come
preaching what that the kingdom of God is at hand so Nick Ademus is asking is
is he a prophet is he preparing the way Nick Ademus is trying to figure out how
Jesus fits into their kingdom equation now you might say well Nick Ademus
doesn't even use the word kingdom matter of fact he doesn't even ask a question
but we know that's what he's talking about because that's the question that
Jesus answers you probably all have someone in your life that when they say
a statement to you you know they're actually asking a question right Nick
Ademus says we know you are from God and Jesus responds with what no one can see
the kingdom of God without being born anew or born from above those are the
two translations Nick Ademus is asking is the kingdom coming and Jesus answers
yes but it's a yes that's confusing for Nick Ademus because Nick Ademus hears
everything literally some of us are literalists some of us struggle with
metaphor with allegory we struggle with hyperbole we struggle with parables and
stories we just want the facts you have probably loved this sermon so far because
it has been exegetical informational historical there's been no jokes no
stories from Greg about his childhood no illustrations just the facts and you
have loved it and that's okay but if you want the facts and only the literal
facts you might struggle with the gospel of John because in general this book is
not about the literal and that's why this book is 100% absolutely for you if
that's what you struggle with because John's primary goal is not facts but
belief the reason Nick Ademus was confused and it shows him stumbling over
well how does an older person go back and get born again the reason the
Nick Ademus was confused like this was because the word that Jesus used I've
already said meant two things either a new or from above and so Nick Ademus
hears the word a new that's the way that he took it he's like well I have to be
born a new well that can only be literal how would I literally be born a new would
I go back into my mother's womb John is trying to get the kind of people that
hear Jesus say you must be born a new to understand that he means you must be
born from above over and over again throughout the gospel of John he's gonna
confront you with belief with belief with belief John's John's aim from
beginning to end is to push past the literal into the spiritual think about
it the gospel of Mark we went through the gospel of Mark last year and we
called it the first gospel and it was it was the first gospel it's also the
shortest gospel the gospel of Mark begins immediately with Jesus already an
adult immediately already doing ministry Matthew gives you a genealogy it tells
you kind of where does this guy come from Luke gives you even more gives you
even more family history not only that he tells you oh hey little twist here
that the other guys didn't tell you John the Baptist his cousins with Jesus
right you get more and more information from gospel to gospel literal literal
literal and then John John begins with a theological statement of galactic
proportions in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the
word was God nothing that exists exists but through God but through the word in
God John is trying to get you to think spiritually about belief John isn't
trying to give you clues about what year Jesus was born he's trying to get you to
believe that Jesus has always been and always will be throughout his gospel
John uses the word for belief or to believe nearly 100 times he's doing
everything that he can to get the reader to believe which brings us back to
Nicodemus in verse 2 what does Nicodemus say he says we know that you are from
God but Jesus wants to know does he believe in who he is
that is the question that I bring to you today because we can read the Bible from
beginning to end and we can use our modern minds to try to turn the Bible
into things that the Bible was never asking to be the Bible was not asking to
be a literal fact-for-fact historical document that you would lay over the
archaeological evidence that people find throughout the years the Bible is trying
to get you to see who God is and to believe that Jesus has been there from
the beginning John in his later writings he has one of the most famous verses he
gets two of the most famous verses in the Bible for God so loved the world he
gave his only son who so ever believes in him will not perish but have eternal
life and then later in one of his letters he writes for God is love
today I just want to leave you the reason that we're here is to try to
convince people to help them see to believe that God is love Jesus in God
has taken all of their sins all of their mistakes on himself and said now you are
indwelt by a God that is it's Father's Day all of us have had different
experiences with what it means to be a father to have a father but I hope that
you can walk away today with a tiny tiny bit more belief that God is father is a
good one that he's loved that he loves you there whether you fall apart he'll
hold you together that when you feel low he's comfort and healing when you feel
far from home that he comes out to find you when you forget or doubt what you
know you will be reminded that you are loved by the God that is love amen let's
pray
heavenly father we thank you for the life of your son we thank you for the
words that we have in the gospel of John trying to lead us past what our literal
brains might get stuck on and just into belief you are good she loved us it's
your spirit working us today your spirit move us closer and closer to you pray
these things the name of Jesus amen as we turn to the table I wanted to ask if
Dave Hodge would you help me with communion and I wanted to ask another
Dave in the room if he would help me with communion go ahead and pass those
out we practice an open table means that it's really between you and Jesus where
you are with him it would not make much sense for you to take these elements if
you have no belief in him whatsoever feel free to let it pass but it's not
something you're comfortable with but this is for everybody on the night that
Jesus was betrayed he sat with his disciples and he added new things to
believe in about something that they had always done he took bread that was at a
table that used to be just a piece of bread and then he said hey you guys are
gonna get together quite often and you're gonna see bread all the time and
I wanted to remind you that my body is broken for you that this world and its
sin will literally break me and you can remember the goodness of who I am
because of it and after the meal he took a cup of wine that was always on the
table that they would always see at most meals that they would ever sit down to
and he said this look at this cup this cup is for a new covenant it represents
my blood that is poured out in their context in the Jewish context they had a
sacrificial system they believed that something had to die to cover sin and
here Jesus is saying I will die and this will cover you all of your mistakes all
of your sins you will be now perfect in the sight of God whenever you see this
bread whenever you see this cup do these things together in remembrance of me and
I love that word remember in the scriptures it's a Greek word anamnesis
and it means more than remember it means as though present again so today as we
share the elements as we take the bread Jesus blessed and broke it let us
remember as though present our Lord Jesus let's take and with the juice let
us remember our Lord Jesus
Jesus we thank you for the work on the cross and for your resurrection from the
grave be with us all our days as we follow you amen there's something I put
in my notes and I didn't I didn't end up saying it and I'm still gonna say it so
you get sermon part two okay just forgive me I know it's Father's Day you
probably have lunch plans I mentioned two of the three times that Nicodemus
was mentioned right the third time that Nicodemus has mentioned it's because it
was he and a guy named Joseph of Arimathea that took the body of the dead
Christ from Pilate and buried him and it says that Nicodemus brought a hundred
pounds of spices to prepare his body and it says that he wrapped the body of Jesus
and laid him in a new tomb that had never had a body in it before and I wrote
in my notes I said that's the last we hear of Nicodemus we have no idea if he
believed in Jesus beyond that moment the last thing we see him doing is maybe
wrapping up the belief he had with Jesus and laying it in a grave so I just hope
maybe for what for what it's worth maybe even prophetically that you would hear
the Lord saying to you whatever hope it is whatever belief you had in God that
you buried that he is resurrecting it there is still new life and that you are
born again from above amen amen