8:1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”]]
I Am the Light of the World
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” 14 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father1 who sent me. 17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” 19 They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
21 So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” 25 So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. 26 I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” 27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. 29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” 30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.
The Truth Will Set You Free
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave2 to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
You Are of Your Father the Devil
39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”
Before Abraham Was, I Am
48 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” 49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” 52 The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” 54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’3 55 But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”4 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
Footnotes
[1] 8:16
Some manuscripts he
[2] 8:34For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface; also verse 35
[3] 8:54Some manuscripts your God
[4] 8:57Some manuscripts has Abraham seen you? (ESV)
Jesus at the Feast of Booths
7:1 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews1 were seeking to kill him. 2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. 3 So his brothers2 said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For not even his brothers believed in him. 6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not3 going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After saying this, he remained in Galilee.
10 But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. 11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” 12 And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.” 13 Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.
14 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. 15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning,4 when he has never studied?” 16 So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s5 will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. 18 The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” 20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it. 22 Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? 24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
Can This Be the Christ?
25 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? 26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? 27 But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” 28 So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. 29 I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” 30 So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”
Officers Sent to Arrest Jesus
32 The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. 33 Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. 34 You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” 35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36 What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”
Rivers of Living Water
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as6 the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Division Among the People
40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43 So there was a division among the people over him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” 47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
[The earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11.]7
The Woman Caught in Adultery
53 [[They went each to his own house,
Footnotes
[1] 7:1
Or Judeans; Greek Ioudaioi probably refers here to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence, in that time
[2] 7:3Or brothers and sisters; also verses 5, 10
[3] 7:8Some manuscripts add yet
[4] 7:15Or this man knows his letters
[5] 7:17Greek his
[6] 7:38Or let him come to me, and let him who believes in me drink. As
[7] 7:53Some manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11; others add the passage here or after 7:36 or after 21:25 or after Luke 21:38, with variations in the text (ESV)
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
6:1 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii1 worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”
15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
Jesus Walks on Water
16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles,2 they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. 20 But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.
I Am the Bread of Life
22 On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread3 the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus4 said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
The Words of Eternal Life
60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
Footnotes
[1] 6:7
A denarius was a day’s wage for a laborer
[2] 6:19Greek twenty-five or thirty stadia; a stadion was about 607 feet or 185 meters
[3] 6:58Greek lacks the bread
[4] 6:59Greek He (ESV)
Categories
Saturday Study
Saturday Study
John 1-5 (1-5-19)
Every Saturday, I will send out a personal Bible study for you to use to dig into something that we read that week in the Bible reading plan. Some will be short and to the point, and others will be longer, giving you a chance to really dig in and study and grow. Understand, this is not meant to be a quick read on the way through the Starbucks drive thru. It is meant to be a tool to help you sit with God’s word and truly dig in and grow and mature in your understanding of the things of God. I pray you will take the time each week to make it a priority to study with us and be stretched unto a more mature walk with God. Know that I am praying for you as you study this year–that God’s word would come alive to you in greater ways and cause you to grow in repentance and belief.
Turn with me to the Gospel of John and specifically John 2:23-3:8, as we dig into this special passage today.
As we look to verse 23 of chapter 2, we are given a reminder that Jesus was in “Jerusalem at the Passover Feast.” We just finished a few weeks of looking at how and why Jesus cleared the temple, and then we looked at His exchange with the Jews about His right to do these things. Today, we are going to hear our author, John the beloved, give us a very sobering insight into the state of many of the people who followed Jesus during these days and witnessed the things he did. Let’s look.
The Problem: Superficial Belief
John 2:23-25 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man
What we discover here is the sobering reality that there is a kind of belief that looks like saving faith and makes one look like a follower of Jesus Christ, but in the end, it is not a saving faith. Jesus doesn’t entrust Himself to them. Instead, they remain in their sin. This is a very sobering testimony by John that builds an important understanding that sets the table for the upcoming chapters and Jesus’ conversations with Nicodemus, the woman at the well, the gentile official, and others.
What we must see is there is a kind of belief about Jesus that is superficial and not saving.
We have seen already that some see the glory of Jesus in His signs and believe, like the disciples did in John 2:11, and there are others who see His signs and do not believe, like the Jewish leaders in John 2:18. But there are also some who say they believe, but their belief is superficial and not saving, as Jesus does not entrust Himself to them, because He knows their hearts and not just their confession of words or outward actions.
What John is pointing out here is very serious and often overlooked, but it is so critical.
We must do serious business with this text today, because superficial faith equals death. It does not equal saving faith. You can look like you believe, you can do the right things, you can say the right words; but in the end, you don’t truly trust Jesus with your life! You are not dead to sin and self and alive in Christ!
This was not just a problem in Jesus’ day, but it continues to be one today. I can’t tell you how many people I have ministered to over the years who believed they were saved because they repeated words that someone else told them to say only to find out at a later time in life what true, saving repentance and faith really was.
The Bible says salvation is only found in the hearts of men and women who God has awakened from death to life with the gift of saving repentance and belief in Him alone!
See, what’s amazing about God is He works in people’s lives despite the work of the deceivers and despite the lack of understanding we might have had when we were saved by God.
Mark 1:15 says, “the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” We are called to repent and believe in Jesus alone!
That is not a one-time, say-these-words-and-you-are-good thing. For those whom God gives saving faith, your life is repentance and belief, both at the moment you are saved and every minute you live after that!
Repentance is essential because it is the “dying to self to live for Christ.” It is taking up a new path in light of the gospel. It is living out the transformation that Christ is doing within. It is not just a one-time thing.
As Martin Luther said so famously in his 95 theses, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent,’ he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”
Belief is not just, “Believe Jesus is who he says he is,” but it’s a belief that is a TRUST in Him for everything.
Before we move on, we have to see that superficial belief can play out into practical Christian activities and even devotion.
One of the most startling things you’ll ever read in the Bible is this very situation illuminated by Jesus in Matthew 7:21-23: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
The first shocking thing we read here is that Jesus says “MANY” will fit this description of superficial belief.
Second, their deception was made worse by their busy religious activity.
Matthew 7:22 “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’”
They’re impacting people’s lives. They’re ministering, and yet Jesus says, “I don’t know them.”
Jesus’ point here is that you can say you love God and do many things for Him but have no spiritual reality and true connection with God.
So, what do I mean by “spiritual reality” or you could say “spiritual life”?
We must understand what John is revealing here in our text so that we rightly understand the absolute need for spiritual new birth if we are going to truly believe and be saved.
Dead in Sin: He Knew What Was in Them
Back to John 2:23. These people are saying they believe, but Jesus did not entrust Himself to them therefore declaring their belief was superficial and not saving. Why did He not entrust Himself to them? Because He knew what was in them.
He knew their words of belief were just words. He knew the state of their hearts. And their hearts had no spiritual life!
They were dead. Look with me again:
John 2:23-25 … many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
As a consequence of the fall of the first man, Adam, every person born into the world is morally corrupt and spiritually dead. This doctrine is called “total depravity.” A concise way to think of total depravity is the state of being spiritually dead. It is not just that some parts of us are sinful and others are pure; rather, every part of our being is affected by sin: our intellects, our emotions and desires, our hearts (the center of our desires and decision-making processes), our goals and motives, and even our physical bodies.
Paul says, “I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh” (Romans 7:18), and “to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure; their very minds and consciences are corrupted” (Titus 1:15).
Jeremiah tells us that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Genesis 6:5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
In these passages, Scripture is not denying that unbelievers can do good in human society in some senses. But it is denying that they can do any spiritual good or be good in terms of a relationship with God.
Apart from the work of Christ in our lives, all unregenerate people are “darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” (Ephesians 4:18).
God will not have fellowship with an unregenerate person, because He knows what is in man’s heart, which is the sin that rightly separates us from a holy God.
Hear it again: John 2:24-25 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
Jesus will not entrust Himself to anyone simply because they proclaim superficial belief in Him. We are desperate for NEW birth!
- W. Pink says it well: “The new birth is an imperative necessity because the natural man is altogether devoid of spiritual life. It is not that he is ignorant and needs instruction: it is not that he is feeble and needs invigorating: it is not that he is sickly and needs doctoring. His case is far, far worse. He is dead in trespasses and sins. This is no poetical figure of speech; it is a solemn reality, little as it is perceived by the majority of people. The sinner is spiritually lifeless and needs quickening. He is a spiritual corpse, and needs bringing from death unto life. He is a member of the old creation, which is under the curse of God, and unless he is made a new creation in Christ, he will lie under that curse to all eternity. What the natural man needs above everything else is life, Divine life; and as birth is the gateway to life, he must be born again, and except he be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. This is final.”
We need new birth! Paul explains that those whom the Spirit has not set free are in sin and death. Without the Spirit’s reviving work in a person, he/she is “unable” to know God, seek God, or please God.
Romans 8:7-8 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Jesus also teaches that it is impossible for man to turn to God without God’s gracious intervention.
John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”
Matthew 11:27 “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
John 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all …”
Many people, myself included, were taught growing up that man is free enough to choose God and believe in His gospel. But as we have just seen, the Bible speaks often and clearly that man’s will is not free, as many commonly think of “free will.” Instead, man is the opposite of free in our nature and will. We are “enslaved” to sin.
John 8:34 “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”
The reality we must understand is man cannot please God or choose Jesus in our sin.
This is so big! We have to hear the global and ongoing revelation of God’s word on this matter. When we think we can just believe anytime we want to, we endorse and employ superficial belief. A belief like this is in no way saving or sanctifying!
If you can read these words, you must understand the threat of superficial belief is very real, and we must see today the need to be born again, made alive by God, given new birth, and regenerated.
To understand this, all we have to do is turn the page to John chapter 3.
Belief About Jesus
John 3:1-2 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
First, Who Is Nicodemus?
Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews, which means he was likely a member of the Jewish ruling council (aka the Sanhedrin). These were the most highly ranked and authoritative Jewish leaders and overseers. They were the most trained and the most invested into the Jewish faith and Jewish matters of the day. This is the group that was the driver for the eventual plot against Jesus.
While most of the Pharisees were very opposed to and contentious with Jesus from the get go, Nicodemus seems to show some unique interest and inquiry in Jesus. He stands apart from the others, in that he has a certain level of liking or respect or superficial belief in Jesus. The fact that he is even willing to seek Him out in this way is not normal for a Pharisee, nor would it be looked on favorably by the other Pharisees, which is likely why Nicodemus seeks Jesus out “at night.”
What is also remarkable is that Nicodemus calls Jesus rabbi! It is very out of place that a high ranking and respected Jewish teacher would refer to the younger Jesus as a fellow “rabbi” especially because it was known Jesus lacked formal rabbinic training, as we read in John 7:15.
Even Nicodemus’ declaration that Jesus is special in that He is “a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him,” shows that he is more open than the other Pharisees who later declare that Jesus “is not from God” (John 9:16).
But we know that Nicodemus is not alone in his observations about Jesus’ ability to perform signs, in that Nicodemus says, “we know that you are a teacher come from God.”
This refers either to a small number of other Pharisees, or more likely, his observation that others are captivated by Jesus’ signs and are crediting Him with being from God. Now we understand from our time in John 1 that Jesus is not from God but is God and equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. So even this understanding of Nicodemus is revealing his lack of true discernment for who Jesus is.
What I want to be sure you see is the placement of this interaction of Jesus with Nicodemus in John’s Gospel immediately following John’s words about superficial belief. I believe Nicodemus stands before us as a prime example, at least at this stage of his life, as one who believed in Jesus in some way but not in a saving way!
Again, I want you to consider for yourself or for others you know who profess they believe in Jesus but show no real fruit of submission to Him as Lord of their lives, no ongoing repentance for sin, or pursuit of His word, or accountability to His Church.
These are evidence that the belief that is being professed is superficial. Now, I say evidence because only God knows the heart. But we deceive ourselves and/or don’t love those we know who claim Christ but show no real evidence of repentance and submitting to Christ at Lord.
The absolute worst place someone could be is believing they are good with God based on superficial belief. Only true saving faith will equal a real submission to God and/or at least a real and lasting fight against sin and self.
The journey is hard and sometimes long to overcome certain valleys in our faith walk, but if you are making time to pursue the truths of God and the people of God who can help you grow and walk with Jesus, then keep on.
God is at work in your heart and life. Do not give up. Stop worrying about what only He knows and just keep going. The worst thing you could do is stop or quit or walk away and give up. Know that God will not miss His predetermined plan for your life. He will perfectly save and keep all of His chosen people.
If you are only leaning on your one-time profession of faith or your childhood church attendance and/or you are not really walking with God and growing in Christ, then you should become worried, because there is no fight in you, no practice, no evidence of real discipleship and repentance and growth.
If this is you, then you need to understand what John is revealing to us here today. Because superficial faith is not saving faith. What you need is to be born again!
You Must Be Born Again
Now, all Nicodemus has said is that Jesus must be from God, because of the signs He has done. What Jesus is about to say in response is going to go to the heart of Nicodemus’ statement here. He is going to do something Jesus does a lot, which is to reply to the heart and not just the words of someone’s inquiry. Jesus can do this because He knows the heart of man (John 2:25 for he himself knew what was in man).
1 Samuel 16:7 For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.
In His addressing Nicodemus’ heart, Jesus is essentially going to say that it is not enough that you believe that He is from God. He is going to call out Nicodemus’ superficial belief and declare what is necessary for saving belief! Jesus is going to say, “You don’t understand the true workings of the Kingdom of God, because you cannot yet see them, because you have not yet been spiritually born.”
John 3:3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Whenever you hear the words “truly truly” twice like this, it is a way of implying great emphasis of truth. So when Nicodemus says, “we know,” Jesus is saying in His reply, “You do not know, and here is how much you do not know.”
What Jesus is saying is that no amount of human knowledge, reasoning, or believing will bring you to spiritual understanding. Only new birth can accomplish this!
What is dead must be made alive. Later in the New Testament, other imagery is used to describe the need for new birth. The deaf cannot hear. The blind cannot see. The dead cannot believe! New birth is required! (John 9:39-41)
Now, this is a shocking indictment for Jesus to tell Nicodemus, because all faithful Jews believed they would be in God’s future Kingdom.
When Jesus says, “unless one is born again,” the word “again” here is more literally translated “from above” or “top to bottom.” Unless one is born from above.
Nicodemus shows in his response that he is hearing Jesus say a person must literally be “born again.”
Let’s look:
John 3:4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Here Nicodemus reveals Jesus’ very point. All Nicodemus can see or think of is the physical, because he has no discernment that what Jesus is referring to is a spiritual new birth. It is actually quite shocking that this is his reply. If you were talking to a five-year-old about these things, you may get this kind of outlandish answer that Jesus can’t be serious, because everyone knows a grown man is not going to crawl up into his mother’s womb to come out again. Nicodemus is a highly studied, trained, wise, grown man, and yet he is so oblivious to the fact that Jesus is talking about a spiritual new birth here that this is what he says in reply.
We must understand physical birth is different than spiritual birth.
John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Jesus’ reply brings clarity that even if one could be literally (physically) born again, it would not accomplish anything, for it would again only be a physical birth. Many of us have thought before, “What if I could go back and try again? Start over? Hit the reset button and do my youth and my young adulthood differently?” But you have to see, you would be just as lost and just as spiritually dead. Sure, you might make a better go of it, but you still would be spiritually dead. No physical rebirth is worth anything.
Instead, what is needed is spiritual birth. “Born of flesh” refers to a natural or physical birth. “Born of Spirit” is Jesus’ reference to what is necessary for eternal life and reconciliation with God.
So, What Is New Birth?
What does it mean to be born from above? Or to be given eyes to see or ears to hear? We often call this regeneration!
Regeneration is a secret act of God in which He imparts new spiritual life to us. This is sometimes called “new birth” or “being born again.”
We saw this, for example, in chapter one when John talks about those to whom Christ gave power to become children of God: They “were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).
Here, John specifies that children of God are those who are “born of God.” Our human will (“the will of man”) does not bring about this kind of birth. In the work of regeneration, we play no active role at all. It is totally a work of God.
1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
We did not choose to be made physically alive, and we did not choose to be born; it is something that happened to us. Similarly, these Scriptures tell us that we are entirely passive in regeneration.
This sovereign work of God in regeneration was spoken of in the prophecy of Ezekiel. This is one of the closest parallels we see in Scripture to Jesus’ phrase, “born of water and spirit.”
Ezekiel 36:24-27 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
New birth is essential for true, saving belief because the heart must be made alive if it is going to trust in God. It must be freed from its enslaved state in sin before one will see the full state of his sin, repent, see the beauty of the gospel as the good news, and trust in Christ alone for salvation.
This is good news because it is the only lasting and true “new beginning.” Many of you want a new beginning in this life. You want a fresh start. You want to see real change in areas of your life. New birth is the true way to experience this!
All other man-made restarts will inevitably fall into the abyss in the end. Only new birth given by God is lasting and truly brings about a new nature.
The new birth is the impartation of the new nature. When I was born the first time, I received from my parents their sin nature, but when I was born again, I received from God the Holy Spirit to dwell within me.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
The fact that this is an act of God and not seen by man is further clarified in the next verses:
John 3:7-8 “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
The sovereign work of regeneration is God’s to decide and to do. We see its effects in transformed lives and saving faith, but we do not know when or how God awakens a dead heart to life. This is His work and His alone! Just like we can see the affects and hear the movement of the wind, but we do not know its origin or know when it will move: both are sovereign in their activities, and both are mysterious in their operations. By now you might be thinking, “What does this have to do with me or my problems in life or my week this week?” Everything! If you are spiritually dead what do you have?
Mark 8:36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul.
Jesus is revealing in His presence and in His words here that there is new birth. Hear me today: What we need is possible in God. So, for you who ask, “Why does all this matter?” I say, nothing matters more!
I pray it makes you hungry to study with us the word of God, hear the testimony of the gospel, that you might be saved and set free to live–to live with God forever! I pray that the blind would see and the deaf hear and the dead in sin rise to new life in Christ! I pray that you not be like Nicodemus, full of worldly wisdom and the respect of man, but lacking discernment and understanding for that which matters most!
The good news is that God, in His amazing grace, gives new birth to those who stand as His enemies: dead in sin, worshiping false idols, and living for their own glory and by their own rules. He gives new birth, and in this, new life to those whom He chooses–those who do not deserve His grace and those who will be forever His!
This is why we celebrate and praise Him: because He has adopted many of us into His eternal family by His sovereign election and saving grace! This is why we preach the gospel to the dead in sin not knowing who will truly believe, trusting in God’s perfect plan and will. This is why those of you who are resting on superficial faith need to truly repent and turn from your sin and trust in Jesus alone for life and salvation. No more resting on what you know in your head but submitting your entire soul and life to God: dying to yourself and living for Him.
By His grace and for His glory,
Pastor Joshua Kirstine
Disciples Church
The Healing at the Pool on the Sabbath
5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic1 called Bethesda,2 which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.3 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews4 said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
Jesus Is Equal with God
18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
The Authority of the Son
19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father5 does, that the Son does likewise. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22 For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
Witnesses to Jesus
30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. 31 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. 33 You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. 41 I do not receive glory from people. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
Footnotes
[1] 5:2
Or Hebrew
[2] 5:2Some manuscripts Bethsaida
[3] 5:3Some manuscripts insert, wholly or in part, waiting for the moving of the water; 4 for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and stirred the water: whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had
[4] 5:10The Greek word Ioudaioi refers specifically here to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence, who opposed Jesus in that time; also verses 15, 16, 18
[5] 5:19Greek he (ESV)