We can scarcely find a chapter in which the gospel lies so compact and so plainly stated.
John 3:1. There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
Christ's door is open at all hours. You may come to Christ by day. You may come to Christ by night. There is never a time when Christ is from home. He that seeketh findeth, and, to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. «The same came to Jesus by night.» Perhaps he was timid. It is just as likely that he was prudent, and did not wish to commit himself till he had seen what it was that Jesus taught. Perhaps, too, he was busy, and had no time except at night. Better come at night than not come at all. «The same came to Jesus by night.»
John 3:2. The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, 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.
The miracles were accepted as a proof of Christ's mission, and if they do not seem to be quite such a proof to us at this distance, they were a most marvelous and necessary proof at the first. Perhaps they have ceased because, that first work being done, the testimony can now stand upon its own strength, and men reading it may judge it to be of God if they will. But to Nicodemus it was quite clear that Christ could not have worked his miracles, except God were 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.
Here is a greater miracle than I have wrought in the outside world. Here is a spiritual miracle. This is what you must receive as well as others. You cannot even understand my kingdom, and know what it means you cannot see it, except you are born again.
John 3:4. Nicodemus said 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?
Thus do men interpret Christ's figures literally, and this has been the basis of a great many mischiefs and false doctrines. When he is using metaphors to make the thing plain, they straightway use the metaphor rather as a cloak to hide the meaning than as a glass through which to see it. This is the reason why the doctrine of transubstantiation has come up. Because our Saviour said, «This is my body,» men have not been able to understand that he meant, «This represents my body. This is a figure.» Truly «the letter killeth.» It is the inner spirit that gives life.
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.
He cannot be Christ's professed disciple except he receive the Spirit, and except he be baptized if the water here relates to baptism at all, which we judge it does not. He must be renewed, and washed, and purified. That must be the water; and he must have the Holy Ghost dwelling in him, or else, as he cannot see, so he cannot 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.
A man may have the best parents that ever lived, but all that is born of the flesh is flesh, at the very best. Your father may be a saint, and your mother a saint, but thou art born in sin, for that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and unless thou be born of the Spirit, thou canst not understand or see spiritual things, and thou canst not enter into the spiritual kingdom, for thou hast no spiritual capacity. «The carnal mind discerneth not the things that are of God, for they are spiritual, and must be spiritually discerned.» Therefore we must be born again so as to receive that Spirit by which spiritual things are discerned and entered into.
John 3:7-8. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
There are mysteries in nature. There are mysteries in grace. Every now-born soul is a mystery, he cannot explain himself. He can scarcely understand himself.
John 3:9-10. Nicodemus answered, and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
These simple things these elementary principles these rudiments of the school book of believers.
John 3:11. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen: and ye receive not our witness.
This was an additional hint to Nicodemus of the unbelief that still lingered in him. «Ye receive not our witness.»
John 3:12. If I have told you earthly things,
Things that have to do with men while here below.
John 3:12. And ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
If I lift the veil, and talk to you about greater mysteries still, if you do not believe about regeneration, where will you be if I begin to talk of any Godhead, and of all the inner secrets?
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.
A riddle, doubtless, to Nicodemus, which in after days he understood.
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.
Oh! that blessed «whosoever»! Hear it, ye sons of men, and tell it to your neighbors «That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.»
John 3:16-18. 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. He that believeth on him is not condemned:
He may be very faulty. His conscience may accuse him, but he is not condemned.
John 3:18. But he that believeth not is condemned already,
Hear that, «condemned already»; not in a state of probation. Never was there a greater mistake than to say that men are in a state of probation. That probation has passed long ago. They have been proved in the world, and, if they are unbelievers, they are condemned already. «Condemned already.»
John 3:18-19. Because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation,
The condemnation the head and front of it.
John 3:19-20. That light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
This is the secret of infidelity. This is the reason of all opposition to Christ. It is love of sin. Trace it home to its den and lair, and you shall find that it is love of sin that breeds hatred of Christ. Men do not see because they do not want to see. They do not want to see too much lest they should be uneasy in their present state of life. So they kick against Christ, and try to put out the light of his gospel, least they be reproved by it.
John 3:21. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
God give us the heart that seeks the light, and sooner or later we shall find it. We shall find it in Christ.