THE SOLUTION JOHN 3:1-18
1. THE SECRET MEETING
JOHN 3:1-2 1 There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
JOHN 3:1-2 2 This man came to Him at night and said, Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher, for no one could perform these signs You do unless God were with him.
JOHN 3:2 2 This man came to Him at night and said, Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher, for no one could perform these signs You do unless God were with him.
2. THE SURPRISING MESSAGE
JOHN 3:3 3 Jesus replied, I assure you: Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
THE BIBLE HAS ONE MESSAGE FOR PASTORS, PRIESTS, AND PROSTITUTES: YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN.
TWO LADDERS Rebellious Ladder
TWO LADDERS Rebellious Ladder Religious Ladder
PRINCIPLE: We want people to be born again.
How is someone born again?
JOHN 3:4 4 But how can anyone be born when he is old? Nicodemus asked Him. Can he enter his mother s womb a second time and be born?
JOHN 3:5-8 5 Jesus answered, Nicodemus, I'm going to pretend you didn t ask that question."
JOHN 3:5-8 5 Jesus answered, I assure you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
How does this happen?
JOHN 3:5-8 5 Jesus answered, I assure you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
JOHN 3:5-8 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.
JOHN 3:5-8 7 Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again.
JOHN 3:5-8 8 The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
THREE OPTIONS: A. Water = Physical Birth & Spirit = Spiritual Birth
THREE OPTIONS: A. Water = Physical Birth & Spirit = Spiritual Birth B. Water = Baptism & Spirit = Spiritual Birth
THREE OPTIONS: A. Water = Physical Birth & Spirit = Spiritual Birth B. Water = Baptism & Spirit = Spiritual Birth C. Water = Forgiveness & Spirit = Spiritual Birth
EZEKIEL 36:25-27 25 I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.
EZEKIEL 36:25-27 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
EZEKIEL 36:25-27 27 I will place My Spirit within you and cause you to follow My statutes and carefully observe My ordinances.
JOHN 3:8 8 The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
2 CORINTHIANS 4:3-6 3 But if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
2 CORINTHIANS 4:3-6 4 In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
2 CORINTHIANS 4:3-6 5 For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves because of Jesus.
2 CORINTHIANS 4:3-6 6 For God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
JOHN 16:8 For When He comes, He will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment
JOHN 3:9-13 9 How can these things be? asked Nicodemus.
JOHN 3:9-13 10 Are you a teacher of Israel and don t know these things? Jesus replied.
JOHN 3:9-13 11 I assure you: We speak what We know and We testify to what We have seen, but you do not accept Our testimony.
JOHN 3:9-13 12 If I have told you about things that happen on earth and you don t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about things of heaven?
JOHN 3:9-13 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven the Son of Man.
3. THE SIMPLE MEANS
JOHN 3:14-19 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
JOHN 3:14-19 15 so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life.
JOHN 3:14-19 16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
JOHN 3:14-19 17 For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
JOHN 3:14-19 18 Anyone 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.
JOHN 3:14-19 19 This, then, is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.
APPLICATION Have you been born again?
APPLICATION Have you been born again? Understand where you will develop spiritually.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.
APPLICATION Have you been born again? Understand where you will develop spiritually. Trust the message.
ROMANS 1:16 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is Gods power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.
JOHN 19:39-40 Nicodemus (who had previously come to Him at night) also came, bringing a mixture of about 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes.
JOHN 19:39-40 40 Then they took Jesus body and wrapped it in linen cloths with the aromatic spices, according to the burial custom of the Jews.