AN EXPOSITION OF JOHN 3:1-12
I. WHO WAS NICODEMUS? 3:1
Nicodemus was a of the Jews which meant that he was a member of the court of seventy elders, known as the Sanhedrin, which was the highest body among the Jews.
Nicodemus knew the well and as such had a special responsibility for the religious instruction of the people of God.
II. WHY DID NICODEMUS COME TO JESUS BY NIGHT? 3:2
Nicodemus was representing the religious in coming to Jesus.
The reason Nicodemus came by night was nothing more than to have a quiet conversation with the new Teacher “come from God?”
III. HOW DOES SOMEONE SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD? 3.3
There is no time for a sinner to come to the Savior, even though night-time Christ readily received Nicodemus.
Jesus, from the onslaught wanted Nicodemus to know that improvement in behavior and a more precise keeping of the law was not what he needed to see the kingdom of God. He needed a radical change from the out by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The kingdom of God is the realm in which His is recognized and and in which His grace prevails.
In its initial stage the process of a person into a child of God repentance and faith.
IV. NICODEMUS’ RESPONSE TO JESUS? 3:4
Nicodemus, did not what the Savior was talking about!
How true it is that “the natural man does not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned” 1 Cor. 2:14, and in order to have spiritual discernment a man must be .
V. TWO BIRTHS, TWO NATURES. 3:5-6
To be "born of water" is to be born .
Every born again person has natures within him: one which is carnal (of the flesh), the other which is (of God).
As born children of God we become "partakers of the divine nature" 2 Peter 1:4. Nature determines appetite, which explains why the Christian has an appetite for the .
VI. THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT LIKE THE WIND. 3:7-8
To Nicodemus everything seemed so very, very strange. He was used to the idea of salvation by law-works; that is, by an act of . Now he is taught that salvation is by ; that is, by an act of God in which man is necessarily passive.
“Something has to happen to you: the Holy Spirit must plant in your hearts the from above, must give you a new .”
Jesus takes the opportunity to explain that the work of the spirit is like the .
The wind is . When the wind blows in the fullness of its power it breaks down and subdues everything in its path.
The wind is also . We can see the effects of the wind but the wind itself is unseen.
VII. THE NEW BIRTH PORTRAYED IN THE O. T. 3:9-10
It must have been very difficult for Nicodemus to what he had always .
Nicodemus should have readily remembered Ezekiel 11 & 36 where God said He would give them a heart & put His within them and cause them to walk in His commands.
And He should have remembered Ezekiel 37 where the prophet saw a valley full of bones; but when he prophesied to the wind, the Spirit came and gave the bones .
VIII. JESUS’ FINAL RESPONSE TO NICODEMUS 3:11-12
Over against the “we know” of Nicodemus in verse 2, a knowledge produced by reflection, the Lord places his own “we know,” a knowledge resulting from close communion with the first and third person of the .
Nicodemus had indicated by his questions and his entire expression that he was not ready to the teaching of Jesus concerning the necessity of birth.
Jesus had been speaking of things to reveal
things.
