SEVEN Series: Made New

A short, engaging podcast that accompanies our sermon series, offering additional insights, practical application, and behind-the-scenes conversations to help you go deeper into God's Word throughout the week.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

We are all sick and dying uh in our sin and Jesus is lifted up on this tree. And if we would just look upon him and put our faith in him, then we will be saved.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Uh give me an action and we'll just jump in. Come on to me. You guys kind of harmonized there for a second. That was really beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Yeah. Really, guys.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Hi, Michael. How's it going? Hey, great, man.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

How are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:27

I'm doing good. Good. We are talking about John chapter three today. Yes. This is week three of our series called Seven in the book of John. And so this chapter is probably the most, if not one of the most popular uh chapters in the entire Bible. Or at least well known. Yeah. And has probably the most important words, most important words ever spoken in it, um, being John 3.16. Yeah. So um we don't have a big poster board that has John 3.16 wrote on it today, but we could have.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

I don't have it on my iBlock either.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Oh, yeah. Well, let's just kind of dive into this. Can you kind of paint us a picture of what's happening here in John chapter three?

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Yeah. So um there's this guy, Nicodemus, right? He is man, he was it. He he was the in guy. He was wealthy, he had built an incredible life for himself. He was uh part of the kind of ruling board in in Jewish society, uh, both not just religious leadership, but uh what would have also acted as political leadership. He was he was kind of like on the on the church board as well as the city council. Like this was a guy, he was connected, he was wealthy, he was um, man, he would have had most likely all of, if not most of the Torah committed to memory. So this would have been he would have been a hardworking man, a um a very wealthy man, well to do, well respected, right? Yeah. And he's talking to Jesus and is intrigued by Jesus, is is is even looking to to perhaps follow Jesus. Yeah, so they have to meet by night. Yes, yeah, because uh implications. We're talking like cloak and dagger here, right? Like yeah, he's he he's interested, but but because of his position in society, um, it could have been bad news for for him, potentially, right? If people found out what he was thinking. Uh, but he was still interested enough, right? There's something about Jesus that um intrigued him. And so they met, they meet, uh, and he says, Okay, Jesus, uh let like tell me like what do I what do I have to do? If I if I want to be in the kingdom of heaven, if I wanna wanna follow you, if I want to do this thing, like what do I have to do? And then Jesus says, he gives the simple yet incredibly impossible task You must be born again. Yeah. And Nicodemus is like, wait, what are you what are you talking about? Like I I am I am a grown man. Yeah. He's like, are you are you telling me like I have to like go back inside of my mother's womb and come out again? Like that that I don't even understand how that would happen. How the logistics of that are puzzling just in and of itself.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

Right. I think in the chosen rendition of this chapter, he talks about Nicodivus talks about how his mom is dead. Yeah. And he's like, so this is an impossibility for me.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Yeah, a literal impossibility.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Um and so I think you've got certainly got that. I mean, this is a very intelligent man, most likely. So you've got that portion spinning the like logistically, how would this even work? But then I think there's a level of like practicality as well in terms of like I've built an incredible life for myself. I have studied, I have worked, I have uh debated, I have learned, I have, I have done all of these things to build this life. And now you're telling me everything I've built is worthless. And I have to go back and start over. Right. And so he creates this like disconnect. Jesus creates this disconnect inside of Nicodemus's mind, where his his desire is to uh follow this seeming truth, but yet it costs him a whole lot. Right. And so that's kind of the the image that we see, the story of of Nicodemus and and what launches um this idea of of being born again, but also like you mentioned, the uh John 3.16, one of the most well-known, if not the most well-known verse uh in in the Bible.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Yeah, yeah. There's there's a lot to unpack in this some of the things that Jesus talks about here. There are lots of references that are made and everything to different things. Um and he even talks about the wind, you know, and how you don't know where it's coming or where or where it's going, or sorry, where it's coming from or where it's going, but you know it's there, you know, and that's what it means to be born in the spirit, you know. That it's it's it's an incredible picture of just trying to understand what what is happening in us and like the like what what is what needs to be born again. It's not your body, you know, it's your spirit, and it's um that that that is what's restarting in you, and you know, because obviously, you know, when we accept Jesus, we're not babies, you know, like we our bodies don't train change, um, but our spirits do. We're we're we're remade, we're we're uh being given a fresh start, you know. Um, and so that that kind of brings me to uh another example that Jesus uses in this. He talks about um Moses and how and I forget which verse it's in, but I know it's I know it's in our series of verses for this, and how much like the serpent that is lifted up in the desert, so the son of man must also be lifted up as well. Can you can you talk to us through that connection?

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Uh what what's happening there? So so I think it should not be any uh a surprise or a secret uh to to mature believers at this point, but the whole of the New Testament j is just pointing to Jesus. Like it, it is, it is all, every bit of it is is a foretelling of of him. And so um, you know, you have this story of Moses where where people are are are sick. I'm I'm forgetting the the specifics of it. I think there's like a sort of play or serpents, okay. Yeah. Um and they they're they're very ill, they're very they're hurting, and and they create this this bronze um snake and they put it up on a on a a wooden post. They lift up this image um on on on wood, on a tree, and those that look upon it are then supernaturally healed and and saved. And so, like if that ain't a picture of the cross, I don't know what is, right? The this we are all sick and dying uh in our sin, and Jesus is lifted up on this tree, and if we would just look upon him and put our faith in him, then we will be saved.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Right, right. You see God painting this picture from the beginning of his time with Israel, you know, like right when his promises are starting to be fulfilled, because he makes his promises to Abraham that he's gonna make him a nation that is going to bless the whole world, you know, and what he's inevitably pointing towards is like Jesus is how is how the whole world is going to be blessed. He's gonna come from your lineage, he's gonna come from your people. I'm gonna use your people to usher in Jesus. And now, like, like all these examples that we see over time, and even like like Jesus, like like he's he's talking to to Nicodemus here, and at one point um he said Nicodemus asks him, How can these things be? Like after Jesus talks about the wind um and how and being born of the spirit and all these things, Nicodemus Nicodemus literally says, I don't understand this. And Jesus says, Are you a teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Like, like he's trying to like paint the picture for him here of like like I all of this has been pointing to me. All of this is is about you being reconciled to God and like all these little things throughout your history and your time with with with God, all the things that He's brought you through are pointing towards me. Like you should get this more than anyone. You know, you should have a greater understanding. Because they they may have thought that that the salvation that came through the Messiah, then in fact we know they thought the that the salvation that came through the Messiah was uh more of like a political salvation, that was more of a political uprising from realm, right? And that this kingdom of God that that Jesus is referring to is an earthly one. He's like, no, this isn't a kingdom you can see, you know, this is this is a kingdom of spirit, you know, and this is um I'm being sent into the world not to not to condemn it, not to not to tear it apart, not to set up, you know, Israel as as a worldly kingdom, but I'm coming in the world to save it, you know, I'm coming to to to take care of um the the creatures that are made in my image, you know, to save them from their sin. Uh it's it's fantastic. Um it's it's a greater it's a greater hope than what Nicodemus would have thought of heads. It's incredible. Yeah, it's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

And I I love uh it talks about Nicodemus being some translations say that he was a teacher, some other translations call him the teacher. So we're talking he this was a a big deal in the church. He had all the answers, yeah, and yet not even he fully understood what what to Jesus, like to your to your point, was so obvious. Right, right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Um, which is is I've got the ESV here and it calls him a ruler of the Jews. A ruler of the Jews. He was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

And now I almost wonder, kind of talking this through with you, Jesus knowing what what could have happened, had I mean Nicodemus could have ruined his whole plan.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

I mean, he could have he could have forced all of Israel to accept him as the Messiah. He would have had that type of influence and power. Um, and that's not what Jesus wanted. Right. Right? He did he he wanted to follow God's plan and will. So perhaps it was Jesus saying, like, and let's let's keep this under wraps. Like, Nick Davis, once you find out what's really gonna go on, like you you may not, you know, I don't know. Yeah, it's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

He needs to be able to have this conversation without political uprising it, because he still has miracles to perform. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

Yeah, I mean he just now started his ministry.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

We're in three, chapter three. He's got disciples to go recruit, you know, he's got all these things that need to happen before his that God's ultimate plan through Jesus' sacrifice comes to fruition. And the a Pharisee saying that this man is from God, that he can't that the things he's doing can't be done if he's not one with God, like it it could have thrown everything out of whack. You know, it would have either resulted in Jesus' earlier execution or would have maybe repro like ended up in a massive political uprising with like an actual war. Yeah, where inevitably the Jews probably would have been eradicated, which is just which is just crazy. Um, so yeah, that this this passage has so much in it, and like man, like Jesus referring to the kingdom of God here, like this is one of the first times we see him talk about the kingdom of God and what that means. And there's just again, there's so much to unpack. I'm I'm really excited for our groups and for people's personal study time to kind of dive into some of this stuff. Um, thank you for your time today. Really appreciate it. Yeah, we'll we'll jump into John chapter three right now. If you're watching in a group or if you're on your own, go ahead and crack the Bible open and let's read together.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

Let's do it.