Sermon Discussion Questions:
1. Read all of John 3. What connections do you see between the conversation with Nicodemus (John 3:1-21) and the conversation with John the Baptist (John 3:22-36)?
2. According to Jesus, why do people--including people like Nicodemus--not believe in Him? See John 3:19-21.
3. Nicodemus was a Pharisee--a very moral person. Yet Jesus can look at that kind of person and say: your works are evil. What does that show us about the human heart? Remember the examples of Freud, Saul, and Galinda.
4. If we cannot believe without the help of the Holy Spirit to make us born-again, how can Jesus command us to believe?
5. What does this passage show us God loves?
You are what you love. What the heart loves, the mind thinks on, and the hands do. What the heart finds desirable, the mind finds reasonable, and the will finds doable. You are what you love.
When my wife and I were dating each other, we were dating long distance. She lived in Seattle, I lived here. And we would usually go about a month in-between seeing each other. And I was working at a coffee shop at the time doing the opening shifts, so I would wake up just a little before four AM. One November, I was planning on driving up the following day to pick her up, and bring her home for the weekend. But that night there were reports of a snowstorm blowing in and threatening to shut down the pass early next morning. And if the pass was closed in the morning, that meant that I would miss a day, and maybe it would be closed for more than one day? I only got to see her once a month, I was googly-eyed, I couldn’t do that.
So, around the time I normally went to bed, I called Hillary and said “Hey, what if I just drove through the night and tried to beat the snow storm?” I don’t know if she knew it at the time, but I was also famously known for falling asleep at the wheel. The two car accidents I had been in up to that point in my life were accidents from me falling asleep while driving. And you may be thinking Hang on, Marc, White Pass isn’t the only way to Seattle. You could have driven west to I-5, and gone up. Ah, see, I did know that. And if the snowstorm did shut the pass down in the morning (after I drove over it), I was planning on that being our route home. I just didn’t want to do that because it took much longer than going over the Pass.
Was that silly, impatient, reckless of me? Definitely.
But…what the heart finds desirable, the mind finds reasonable, and the will finds doable. So, after waking up at 3:30 in the morning, I drove over White Pass through the night in the middle of a snow storm, rolling my windows down and sticking my head out to wake myself up.
You are what you love.
In our passage in the gospel of John today, we will see the power our loves have in shaping our lives and our beliefs. But we won’t only learn about what we love, but more importantly, we also will learn about what God loves.
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16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
22 After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. 23 John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized 24 (for John had not yet been put in prison). 25 Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” 27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.” 31 He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. 33 Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. 34 For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. 35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
- John 3:16-36
Those who flee cannot receive; you must believe.
John 3 is a dense knot of teaching. John’s gospel tends to circle around key themes, revisiting ideas from different angles to press deeper into them — and John 3 is no different.
The chapter begins with Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus. Nicodemus approaches Jesus with admiration, saying: “I believe in you! God must be with you because of the miracles you perform.” But Jesus’ response is startling: “No, you don’t really believe.” Remember John’s summary statement at the end of chapter two (right before Nicodemus): “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man,” (John 2:23-25).
What does Jesus tell Nicodemus: “You cannot believe until the Holy Spirit gives you the gift of new birth.”
Nicodemus is confused — “How can someone be born again?” Jesus explains that this is the spiritual birth the Spirit provides, just as Ezekiel prophesied when God’s Spirit breathed life into dry bones. Nicodemus is spiritually dead, just like Israel in the wilderness who saw many miracles yet still perished in unbelief. Flesh gives birth to flesh — dead, unbelieving, incapable of understanding. But Jesus has come from heaven to speak heavenly truths, and only those who are born of the Spirit can receive His testimony.
Jesus confronts Nicodemus: “You do not understand… you do not receive our testimony… you do not believe.” (John 3:10-12). Why? “That which is born of flesh is flesh.” (John 3:6). Without the Spirit’s work, no one can understand, believe, or receive Jesus’ words.
Those Who Flee
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. - John 3:19
This is a fairly damning expose of human nature. Light in John’s gospel above all represents Jesus, the Son of God. He is the light of the world (cf. John 1:4-5, 9; 8:12). What does “light” bring? Sight, knowledge, warmth, life. What does “darkness” bring? Blindness, ignorance, coldness, death. The light came into the world…and people loved darkness instead. The only benefits that “darkness” brings is sleep, and hiddenness. That’s what people love; I want my mind shut off, I want to remain unseen, in the dark. Why? Because “their works are evil.” They don’t want to think too much about what they are doing, and they do not want to their deeds exposed out in the open.
20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. - John 3:20
21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” - John 3:21
Those who do what is true, they have nothing to hide. But everyone else? They hate the light and refuse to come into it; that is, refuse to come to Jesus, lest their works should be exposed. They flee from the light and remain under the safe cover of darkness which dulls their minds and covers their true nature.
Couple of things to notice here:
First, notice how this refusal isn’t a rational thing? It is in the depths of the heart. It is hatred and love. Which means it is pre-rational, pre-intellectual. Jesus is claiming that no one is unbiased as they evaluate the claims of Christianity or seek out for God. It is a willful unbelief. It is the student who has decided ahead of time that they hate the professor and it doesn’t matter what he teaches, the student knows ahead of time that they will not listen. And if that seems like it is too dramatic or extreme of a statement, then…
Second, remember who Jesus is speaking with. This is Nicodemus, a Pharisee. And a Pharisee who is interested in Jesus! We assume Pharisees are bad guys because we know how the story ends, but Pharisees were extremely moral people. When Jesus says that people loved the darkness because their works were evil…Nicodemus likely furrowed his brow and thought: What evil deeds are you talking about?
Freud and the function of religion: hiding our true motives from our consciousness with ceremony.
Saul and his false offering.
Galinda the good witch and weaponizing altruism.
The Church is the community of sinners walking the light.
if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. - 1 John 1:7-9
Cannot Receive
In John’s gospel, he uses “receive” as a metaphor for believing. John wants you to receive Jesus (cf. John 1:11-12; also “overcome” in 1:5, katalambano, comes from the same word for “receive” lambano. Thus, 1:5 should be read as “the darkness did not understand the light”). Earlier, he told Nicodemus “you do not receive our testimony,” (John 3:11). Nicodemus represents an example of one who flees the light and so cannot receive the testimony of Jesus. John the Baptist, on the other hand, is the exact opposite of Nicodemus. Aside from these two accounts being placed next to each other in John’s gospel, there are number of verbal hyperlinks meant to invite you into comparing the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus (John 3:1-21) with the conversation between John the Baptist and his disciples (John 3:22-36).
- Both Jesus and John the Baptist are approached with the title “Rabbi” (3:2, 26)
- Both speak of “receiving” a testimony from heaven (3:11-12, 27, 33)
- Both speak of “bearing witness” (3:11, 28, 32)
- Both speak of Jesus being “from heaven” in contrast with those “of earth” (3:12-13, 32)
- Both speak of the Spirit (3:6-8, 34)
- Both speak of eternal life through believing in the Son (3:14-16, 36)
- Both speak of the judgment/condemnation/wrath of God (3:18, 36)
We have actually already covered this encounter before when we covered John the Baptist back in chapter one, so we won’t spend much time looking at John’s “I must decrease” language. Instead, I want to focus on John’s initial response to his disciples. The disciples notice that everyone is now leaving their folds and going to Jesus.
“John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven,” John 3:27
Why does John say that? John, your booming ministry that was once the hot new thing is falling apart—what are you going to do about it?
A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. I’m not the Messiah; He is. And I believe in Him, so my joy increases the more He does—even if it means I lose the popularity game.
It is a remarkable testimony of John’s humility and sincerity of belief. But notice how he speaks in verse 27. He doesn’t personalize it. He doesn’t say, “I could not receive anything, unless it is given to me from heaven.” He does apply this to himself, yet the way he formulates the words in vs. 27 is universal. He speaks as if this is a principle that applies to all persons—not just him. A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. And when you read verse 27 in comparison with Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, you see how it dovetails in perfectly.
What did Jesus tell Nicodemus?
11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? - John 3:11-12
Compare that with:
“A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven,” John 3:27
Or:
He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. - John 3:31-32
Nicodemus cannot receive the testimony of Jesus because he has not yet been born again by the Spirit—it has not yet been given to him from heaven. He is “of the earth” and so “belongs to the earth” and “speaks in an earthly way.” Even when Jesus, “who comes from heaven” attempts to speak to Nicodemus in an “earthly way” (John 3:12), Nicodemus still does not receive it. John says “no one receives” it. A person “cannot receive unless it is given.”
This isn’t just describing unwillingness—like the earlier point explained—this is describing incapability!
In the history of the church, there have been two primary ways to view how we respond to God. St. Augustine, the African bishop who wrote his spiritual autobiography Confessions, was in deep, deep sexual bondage and it was what inhibited him from coming to faith. He tried, earnestly, to come to God but felt like a chain of habitual servitude to this passion restrained him. Until, God broke the chain. Writing of his conversion, Augustine simply tells God: You converted me. And God’s grace isn’t only at work in his conversion, but in sustaining him. Later, he prays: “You command chastity; grant what you command, and command what you will.” Command what You will, and will what You command.
Now a British theologian named Pelagius read that and thought that Augustine was totally wrong. He thought that that view eliminated human responsibility, that Augustine was basically writing a blank check for Christians to indulge in sexual sin and not feel guilty about it, to say “Well, until God does something, I can’t help it.” We will come back to that concern in just a second—which is a good one—but first we need to see what is animating Pelagius here. Pelagius did not believe that we were born naturally sinful, that we were born naturally good, and that mankind was free to avoid sin and its negative effects if he so chose, and Augustine’s entire conception of man being utterly helpless apart from the grace of God was wrong. Rather, Pelagius believed, that we could through our own efforts and good deeds earn salvation. And a debate arose between the two men for years, and eventually a church council was called in Carthage in 418 to get the insights of hundreds of other bishops on the matter, and the council determined Pelagius’s views to be heretical.
Apart from the grace of God, we are incapable.
Again, remember who Jesus is speaking with: Nicodemus, a Pharisee. An extremely morally serious person with religious scruples far beyond what any of us would have. I don’t know how much Scripture you have memorized, but do you know how many books of the Old Testament a Pharisee had to have memorized? All of them. And yet, Jesus tells him: you do not understand.
A person can study the Bible, study theology, church history, philosophy, apologetics—you can run ministries, organizations, missions…and yet, a person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given by God. Unless you are born-again.
It does not matter how smart you are, what your background or traditions are, how spiritually minded you are, how religious you are, how moral you are. You are what you love…and for those who have sin to hide—and we all do!—we love the darkness, we hate the light, we do not want our sins exposed, and so we flee. Those who flee cannot receive.
You Must Believe
He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. 33 Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. - John 3:32-33
Vs. 32: No one receives his testimony. Vs. 33: But there are some who do.
How?
For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. - John 3:34
Jesus is the One whom God has sent. He utters God’s words. He speaks on behalf of heaven, because He alone has ascended into heaven, so He can speak heavenly things. But speaking heavenly things alone doesn’t fix the problem—Jesus tried to take God’s Words and speak even in earthly ways, and that still didn’t help Nicodemus understand. What does it? It is God’s Words spoken in conjunction with the Spirit given without measure, no restraint, no limits, a full deluge of the Spirit of God. That is how you receive the testimony. The Holy Spirit is given and works in your heart to make you born-again, and you hear God’s word and say: Yes! Yes!
All throughout John’s gospel, we are commanded to believe in Jesus. You must be born again.
We are incentivized with the blessings of belief. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life;
And we are warned of the consequences of failing to believe: Whoever does not believe is condemned.
Which, man, sure sounds like we are really responsible. It kind of sounds like Pelagius at least had a point, right?
And yet, all throughout John’s gospel we are told that we are incapable of believing…unless the Spirit gives life.
Which leaves us in a debacle; how can God command us to do something that we cannot do unless He grants it? How?
You are what you love. This chapter has spent a great deal of time talking about how our loves (of sin, namely) inhibit us from coming into the light, and our need of divine intervention. This divine intervention, however, must work on the level of our loves, must change what we love. What the heart finds desirable, the mind find reasonable, and only then the will finds doable. How do we change our loves? It seems like John gives us some clues.
Earlier, Jesus told Nicodemus to think about Him like the serpent on the pole: when it was lifted up and when people looked to it, they were healed. Later, Jesus will tell the crowds: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die,” (John 12:32-33).
When Jesus and specifically his work on the cross are lifted up, He draws mean to himself, He heals. We may not be able to pry open the hands of divine providence to make sense of all its mysteries, but if we but fix our eyes on Christ, then the closed hand can open to dispense grace.
Did you notice how this passage doesn’t only disclose to us what we love, but also what God loves? You are what you love, and this passage shows us what God is like through what He loves.
God loves Himself
The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.- John 3:35
The triune God exists in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Three persons, one being. And all three persons are the apex of beauty, truth, and goodness. Were they to love anything more than the other persons in the godhead, they would be sinning, they would be guilty of idolatry. They must love each other because of their divine nature and righteous character. God loves what is absolutely pure, holy, good, true, just, exquisite, and beautiful. The only being who possesses those qualities infinitely, is God. Therefore, for God to love anything less than would be a compromise of His status as God.
God loves the world
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. - John 3:16-17
What is God like? We should not be surprised that Father loves the Son; He must! But what does it then disclose to us about what God is like if He is willing to give the Son up because he loved the world?
What’s amazing about this isn’t that the world is so big, but the the world is so bad.
We are not unlike Lazarus, dead in the grave, and Jesus is commanding us to rise. Lazarus can’t hear you, Jesus! He does not have the faculties to hear your command and obey it. And nevertheless, Jesus commands him, and Lazarus obeys the command—because with the command, Jesus gave the power to obey it.
So it is with us, as Jesus is commanding us to believe in Him, commanding us to be born-again.
So, what should we do as we listen to Jesus’ teaching today? As we admit that God must be the one who gives us the faculties to hear, to believe, and to obey?
If you were Lazarus, and the last thing you remembered was closing your eyes in death, and then coming back to life in the tomb, hearing Jesus’ cry to come out, what would you do? You’d obey His words. You would walk out of the tomb. So too, we should respond in simple obedience to Jesus’ words, even as we admit that apart from His aid, apart from the help of the Spirit, we are incapable.
