Salvation Simply

John 3:1-19
 
In the darkness Nicodemus stands listening to the Lord Jesus.  This deeply religious man has been told by the Lord that to see God's kingdom he must be born again.  To enter God's kingdom Nicodemus for all his religion, must be the recipient of a spiritual birth brought about by God, the Holy Spirit. V5 "..verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Jesus taught this religious man that true religion is being born again.  Jesus teaches that the true religion is being born again.  Jesus teaches Nicodemus that God initiates this new birth, and Jesus teaches Nicodemus that to be born again is absolutely essential.  It is not an optional extra experience that some Christians have and others don't.  You must be born again or you cannot see God's kingdom. 

We must remember that Jesus is talking to this man who is a religious pharisee.  The pharisees liked to be in complete control of their religion.  That is why Jesus says in V8 that Nicodemus has as much control over being born again as he did over the wind. V8 "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."    You must be born again.  Jesus says that in V7 "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."  did you know that this Greek verb means that it is an action completed in the past..it is a passive verb.  You don't do it.  To be born again is something that God does to you.  To be born again is of God.  John 1: 12-13 "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:  which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."    Born of God.  The new birth is of God.  Nicodemus is astounded and he says "how can these things be"

To be born again is hard to understand:    This religious man cannot understand the kingdom of God because he is not born again.  He doesn't have spiritual life.  The person who is not born again is a natural man (1 Corin 2:14) who receives not the things of the spirit of God, they are foolishness to him, neither can he understand them because they are spiritually discerned.   Jesus says in V10 "..Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?"   Master means teacher.  Of Israel means renowned in Israel.  Jesus tells Nicodemus that he is a renowned teacher among God's people and yet  he was ignorant in these matters.  

Nicodemus should have had a knowledge of what it says in Ezekiel 36:26 "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh."   God is going to take way hearts of stone and give living hearts of flesh.  That is God in the old testament talking about the creation of spiritual life within people being born again.   Nicodemus was a spiritual leader who was unacquainted with the basics of spiritual life.  In V9-13 Jesus goes on to say that these things are real, they can be explained.  People being born again change from the inside out.  How these things originated in heaven in God's plan and purpose, Nicodemus doesn't understand.  Jesus said that he was in heaven and that he had planned it all.

Looking Unto Jesus

Looking Unto Jesus

Do you ever have this thought come into your mind - "You are not REALLY saved" or do you ever do something that you know you should not do, but you give in to the flesh and speak a word, or do an action that you know grieves the Spirit within?  Do you ever, at that time, feel very away from our heavenly Father?

Brother or sister, those are attacks of the evil one..the one who tempts you where he knows you are weakest.. the one who urges you to not be an overcomer, but to give in to his temptation.

  Looking Unto Jesus - from Morning Devotions by C.H. Spurgeon

It is ever the Holy Spirit's work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus; but Satan's work is just the opposite of this, for he is constantly trying to make us regard ourselves instead of Christ. He insinuates, "Your sins are too great for pardon; you have no faith; you do not repent enough; you will never be able to continue to the end; you have not the joy of his children; you have such a wavering hold of Jesus." All these are thoughts about self, and we shall never find comfort or assurance by looking within.

But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self: he tells us that we are nothing, but that "Christ is all in all." Remember, therefore, it is not thy hold of Christ that saves thee-it is Christ; it is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee-it is Christ; it is not even faith in Christ, though that be the instrument-it is Christ's blood and merits; therefore, look not so much to thy hand with which thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ; look not to thy hope, but to Jesus, the source of thy hope; look not to thy faith, but to Jesus, the author and finisher of thy faith. We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul. If we would at once overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by "looking unto Jesus." Keep thine eye simply on him; let his death, his sufferings, his merits, his glories, his intercession, be fresh upon thy mind; when thou wakest in the morning look to him; when thou liest down at night look to him. Oh! let not thy hopes or fears come between thee and Jesus; follow hard after him, and he will never fail thee.

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Hebrews 1-2 "........let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.