If we were asked to read to a dying man who did not know the gospel, we should probably select this chapter as the most suitable one for such an occasion; and what is good for dying men is good for us all, for that is what we are; and how soon we may be actually at the gates of death, none of us can tell.
John 3:1-2. There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by night,
We do not know the names of many other Pharisees, but we do know the name of this one because God had loved him with an everlasting love, and therefore with lovingkindness did he draw him to the Saviour's feet. «The same came to Jesus by night.» Possibly, he was too busy to come during the day. Anyhow, it was better to come to Jesus late at night than not to come to him at all. From the fact that, after our Lord's death, it is said that he was the man who «at the first came to Jesus by night,» I gather that he did come then partly out of timidity and partly also out of candor. He wanted to know more about Christ before he committed himself, so he came privately, to see and hear for himself. It does not matter if any of you also come to Christ by night if you like. Our Saviour has a night-bell to his door, and he is quite willing to be the Physician of your soul, even if you ring him up at midnight.
John 3:2. And said unto him, Rabbi,
He begins very respectfully, and so far, so good; but then, Judas said, «Hail, Master,» and kissed Christ, when he went to Gethsemane to betray him.
John 3:2. We know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Dear friends, if any of you do not know all about Christ that you wish to know, or that can be known, make use of what you do know about him. Nicodemus had not yet learned the truth of Christ's Deity, but he knew that he was a teacher sent from God, and that God was with him.
John 3:3. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Christ's formula, «Verily, verily, I say unto thee,» was a new style of speech for the Pharisees to hear, for they quoted Rabbi this, and Rabbi that; but Jesus gives himself as his own sufficient authority, with an egoism which cannot be blamed, and which no true disciple of his ever questions, for Christ is himself the truth, and whatever he says is to be humbly received by all his followers. «Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.» He has no notion of what it really is; he cannot even see it, for he is blind to it until he is born again. It is for this reason that our most lucid explanations of the gospel are altogether lost upon unregenerate men and women. However bright a light God may make our ministry to be, bright light is of no use to blind men, and they must be born again before they can even see the kingdom of God.
John 3:4. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
His questions proved that he could not see the kingdom of God. He blundered over the letter of Christ's message; he misunderstood the metaphor that Christ used; but did Jesus therefore not give Nicodemus any further instruction? Oh, no; listen:
John 3:5. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
There must be a purifying operation upon his heart and mind, he must be spiritually washed and cleansed, and the Spirit of God must create him anew; otherwise he cannot possibly enter into the kingdom of God.
John 3:6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
So that the best child who ever was born, even though he were, like Saul of Tarsus, «of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews;» yet even he, inasmuch as he «is born of the flesh, is flesh,» and not «spirit.» Everything which comes to us by our first birth can be nothing better than flesh, and what can you get out of flesh but flesh? The only «evolution» that can come of the flesh is corruption. There must be another birth if you are to get anything but flesh: «that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.» Fleshly things are understood by the flesh, and spiritual things must be spiritually discerned; hence the absolute necessity of a second birth, a Spirit birth, that we may first see and then enter the spiritual kingdom of God.
John 3:7. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
This ruler of the Jews was full of astonishment at this strange doctrine, so Christ said to him, «Marvel not.»
John 3:8. The wind bloweth
That is, the Spirit bloweth
John 3:8. Where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.
This is a great mystery, and our Saviour connected it with the most mysterious thing in the whole realm of nature, the wind, a thing which has never been seen, and which must remain a mystery to us, at least while we are upon the earth. Christ uses this mysterious force as an emblem of the Holy Spirit, and of those who are «born of the Spirit.»
John 3:9. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
He was puzzled and perplexed, like a man in a maze; the Saviour had given him something to think of; and I wish that, when we preach to a congregation, or when we talk to individuals, we would not aim at dazzling them with our fine phrases, but would seek to set the truth before their minds, that it might lie there, to be studied, and thought of, and to be like seed which, in after days, would germinate, and bring forth a harvest to God's praise and glory. Our Saviour is an example to all of us who preach; and, in this instance, he shows us the wisdom of not keeping back the mysteries of the kingdom. I am greatly afraid that many preachers would have begun by talking to Nicodemus of some point that was common to both Judaism and Christianity, and that they would have gone on to apologize for the peculiar mysteries of Christianity, all of which would have been waste of breath, and worse than that. Do not so, my brethren; but speak out the truth boldly, and leave the Eternal Spirit to make use of it as he pleases.
John 3:10-12. Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
The Saviour as good as told Nicodemus that he did not come to argue or to reason with him, but to bear witness to absolute certainties, of which he himself was absolutely sure. So he said to him, «If you do not receive our witness concerning these things, which lie on the very threshold of the kingdom,» yet, mark you, he had been speaking about regeneration, the great mystery of the new birth, «it is of no use going on to still higher themes.» So it is evident that the kingdom of Christ requires great faith, faith on the very threshold of it to believe the wondrous mystery of the new birth, and still greater faith, as deeper truths, the more heavenly things of the kingdom are revealed to us.
John 3:13. And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
Now Nicodemus must have been indeed puzzled. Here was a man who had come down from heaven, yet who had gone up to heaven, and was still there, although he was at that moment talking to Nicodemus! Without the Spirit of God to explain the mystery, he could not make top or bottom of it.
John 3:14-15. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Mark, dear friends, the blending of the different truths in this wonderful chapter; there is no keeping back the necessity of the new birth, and there is no cutting down of the glorious doctrine of salvation by faith in Jesus, he puts the whole matter as broadly as it could be put.
John 3:16-17. 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. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
If any one of you says, «I cannot cause myself to be born again,» that is quite true; yet listen to this message in the same chapter which speaks of the new birth: «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.»
John 3:18. He that believeth on him is not condemned:
That is a grand truth.
John 3:18. But he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
His not believing is the master-sin, the surest evidence of his being, in his heart, an enemy to God. If he refuses to trust Christ, the matchless gift of the Father's love, he must be desperately set on mischief, and he «is condemned already.» These two truths of the necessity of the new birth, and of the fact that everyone who believes on Christ is saved, are quite consistent and in perfect harmony with each other. God grant to us the grace to know them both by experience! Never talk about «reconciling» them, for they have never fallen out with one another. God grant that we may find them both true in our own lives, for his dear Son's sake! Amen.