For the sake of illustration, I want you to picture a young man or woman going into politics. Now we could easily be talking about business, or education or medicine but the role of a politician will serve this illustration the best.
First, this young man or woman is motivated by a strong moral compass. They were raised in a good family and had strong family support. They had a sure grasp of right and wrong, and decided to enter politics to make a difference.
They are charismatic and respected by many and quickly rise in position and influence. Their ideology is clear in their mind, and they serve on the right committees, meet the right people and they find themselves achieving the goals that they set for themselves.
At the height of their career, they find themselves caught in a quandary. Now privy to the workings of politics at the highest levels, they are called upon to make decisions that serve their ideology but leave questions in their mind.
Now, don’t get me wrong. They have made compromises before. That is the way of getting things done in the capital, but they are now asked to agree to things that they know are not morally right. Financially and politically, they make sense, but they leave a bad taste in the mouth.
In their heart, they know what they should do but it would compromise their influence and may even ruin their political future. What should they do?
Now, you and I can watch from afar and tell them exactly what to do. Do the right thing regardless of the price. But would we do it if we were in their shoes? And have we been so bold to do the right thing always in our lives or are there places we too have compromised?
In our text today, a good man comes by night to ask Jesus a serious question. For the first time in his life, he has questions, but does Jesus have the answers.
By the way, his name is Nicodemus.
What is it that breaks a good man or woman? What causes people who have the position to do great and good things to exchange that for selfish and lesser things?
We have seen enough people fall from grace to have a good grasp on what it takes to break a good man or woman.
For some it is a loss of touch with the real world and the impact of their decisions. They have lived in ivory palaces so long; they forget how others live and make decisions with no thought of them. We would call them elitists.
Or it could be a simple lack of accountability. Because of their successful rise to power, people turned a blind eye to their decisions if they kept things moving. After a while, it simply became too easy to operate with no moral compass.
For such people there is an erosion over time. They might not intentionally set out to lose their way morally. Small infractions snowball into larger issues and they wake up one day finding they have drifted far from how they were raised.
But when they do wake up, they are faced with a choice. Change course or become like those around them. They can let the survival instinct kick in and do what must be done or risk everything.
Our text introduces us to a man who has risen to the heights of power and influence. His name is Nicodemus. Most historians believe he is the son of the Gurion family who held both wealth and power.
He is an influential Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin which ruled the nation at that time. You could not find many who could say that they were as successful as Nicodemus personally, publicly or politically.
Yet in our text, Nicodemus has a problem. Privy to the many things that the Sanhedrin kept their eye upon, Nicodemus had learned of this prophet from the Galilee called Jesus.
They had been watching Jesus for months now as His popularity grew. There memory was still fresh of another prophet in Galilee two decades prior who had led a rebellion that resulted in the crucifixion of over 5,000 Jews. That could not be allowed.
But there were some among them like Gamaliel who remembered the boy Jesus who had astounded them with His questions 18 years ago in the temple.
Nicodemus was a good man raised by a good family and good to his Jewish faith. He wanted to be fair to this new prophet but cautious about what He was allowed to do.
But somewhere along the line, Nicodemus began to take a personal interest in this rabbi. It becomes apparent in our text that Nicodemus has studied Jesus, witnessed His miracles, and even tried to understand what Jesus was saying.
But when Jesus had cleared the Temple at Passover and overturned the tables of the moneychangers, He had made Himself a target of the Sanhedrin. Jesus had even dared to call the Temple His Father’s house.
Nicodemus is caught in a moral dilemma. He believes that Jesus is come from God and tells Jesus so. He honors Jesus by calling Him rabbi or teacher. He knows that no one could do what Jesus does without God.
But if Nicodemus was to follow his heart, he could put everything he had achieved at stake. It was apparent to Nicodemus that Jesus was not a man to compromise but Nicodemus just couldn’t let it go. He wasn’t sure why, but he just couldn’t go along with his compatriots and throw Jesus to the dogs.
So, he went to Jesus to satisfy himself. He had some questions that he needed answered but he didn’t dare express them openly. So, he went to Jesus at night so not to be seen.
Some have called Nicodemus the secret disciple because later when the matter of Jesus had come to a head in the Sanhedrin, it was Nicodemus who reminded them that according to their own law, Jesus was entitled to a fair trial.
And when the crucified Jesus was being laid in the tomb, it was Nicodemus who brought 75 pounds of myrrh and aloe to prepare His body. That amount was only afforded to royalty, so it is obvious that Nicodemus was fully a follower by then.
But not yet, so he came at night to Jesus. Maybe meeting Jesus could help him make up his mind. That’s what a good man would do, and Nicodemus was a good man, or so he thought.
Then Jesus turns Nicodemus’ world upside down. He tells him that unless a man is ‘born again’, he cannot even see the kingdom of God.
Now Nicodemus is confused. He has been a good Jew. He had kept the Law and was a leader in the nation of Israel, but Jesus has suddenly discounted all that effort because he has not been what Jesus called ‘born again’.
Nicodemus was incredulous. Was Jesus talking about being born again physically? What in the world was He saying?
Jesus clears things up by talking about the wind which is a reference to the Spirit of God. God’s Spirit cannot be contained in some law or even a Temple. It comes and goes where it will, and you have no control over it.
What happens next will change Nicodemus forever. He had come to question Jesus as a leader of the people. Suddenly, he is the student and Jesus is going to take him to school. Jesus is going to do the basics first and then open him up to a whole new world.
What takes place next will most certainly be relayed by Nicodemus later when the disciples pen the gospel account. What Jesus taught would become the basis of our faith and the reason for the ending of the old covenant and the beginning of the new.
It is anchored to perhaps the most famous words of scripture: John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
In that one statement, Jesus explained Abraham, Moses, and the nation of Israel. Everything that defined Nicodemus had one purpose: to deliver Jesus to save His people.
Jesus was about to set thousands of years of teachings on their ear. He was literally giving birth to a whole new idea. In fact, that is the very word that He used, “You must be born again.”
Now we must not take Nicodemus to task too hard when he asked if he had to go back into his mother’s womb. To be honest, he didn’t know what to say. He had come to understand this rabbi better and Jesus took him straight to the truth of the matter.
God’s will was not bound to sacrifices, laws or temples. God was spirit and He expected His people to worship Him the same way, in the spirit. And if you did not, no number of sacrifices, laws or temples could make it up.
Nicodemus represents the natural man who is trying to do the right thing. He has lived his life the way his parents taught him to do, and he just wants to make sure he understands who Jesus is. Like checking off boxes, this is one more box to check but Jesus takes that box away.
Nicodemus is a seeker. He wants to understand but what Jesus is saying is more than he can grasp. He never expected to discover that it was God who was seeking Him, not the other way around.
Their meeting that night was by divine appointment. Nicodemus had been set up by God and God was now in charge of the discussion. Nicodemus was not accustomed to being in such a position. He usually did the teaching.
But Jesus had just revealed His divine origins to this man and that He was on a divine mission as the Son of God. Nicodemus was underwater right now trying to catch his breath.
In a way, we can understand the quandary of Nicodemus when it comes to understanding faith. There is a tension between human understanding and divine revelation. The more we understand the nature of God, the deeper we sink. Sometimes, you must take God at His word by faith and that isn’t always easy.
Let me give you an example. I am going to share with you an exegetical summary of this text taken from the Greek, and you tell me how easy it is to fathom.
“In John 3:1-21, the passage reveals the profound truth that through faith in Jesus Christ, God’s boundless love is manifested as He offers salvation and eternal life to all, inviting them to be born again through the transformative work of the Holy Spirit.”
I even printed this truth in your handout. Try explaining that concept to a child. Jesus just did.
What He says next cuts Nicodemus off at the knees. In verses 9-15, Jesus reminds Nicodemus that he came to ask Jesus questions that as a leader of Israel he should have already understood. You have had the law for thousands of years and you do not understand its purpose.
I have healed and performed miracles that I know you have seen with your own eyes and yet you still do not believe. If you cannot believe what your eyes are telling you, how are you going to understand the spiritual truths that you cannot see?
“Flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Jesus doesn’t berate Nicodemus for not understanding. Flesh cannot understand the spiritual and Nicodemus has been operating by the flesh.
No, Nicodemus, you cannot understand me by laws and sacrifices. You cannot understand me by just being a good person and doing virtuous deeds. At some point, you must bend your knee and admit your ignorance.
It is the same way for all men.
Jesus then makes it so simple that a child could understand. There is light and darkness in this world, Nicodemus. You know that without anyone having to explain that to you. And you are either drawn to the darkness or drawn to the light. You are not sure why, but you will love the one and hate the other.
Nicodemus, you have been drawn to the light. You are here because you know what is right in your soul. You are at the edge of faith. All you need to do now is trust me and believe why I came. But we both know what that will mean to you.
You can go on doing what you were doing and nothing will change for you. That would be the safe bet. Or you can believe what I have told you about myself and my mission here and you will undergo a spiritual transformation. It will be painful like childbirth, but you will be spiritually reborn.
God does the same thing with you and me. He takes us where we are and offers you a spiritual life by faith. But that spiritual life is going to cost you. It is going to change you and the way you do things.
It’s going to seem like Jesus has taken over your life and is taking you places you may not want to go, and He is. But salvation is more than just being a good person and doing noble things.
Salvation is bending a knee to Me for the God I am and following me with your whole heart even when you don’t fully understand.
As I said, the next three years will be life-changing for Nicodemus. He will caution the Sanhedrin about railroading this prophet Jesus, but they will eventually throw out the rule book and kill Jesus.
I don’t know when Nicodemus came to faith. It may have been that night listening to Jesus. It may have been when he stood up and challenged the Sanhedrin. But it certainly was when he paid a king’s ransom to anoint the body of his Savior and Messiah.
Nicodemus disappears from the history books and we’re not sure what happened to him. I like to believe that he retired from the darkness he found in the Sanhedrin and pursued the light that he found in Jesus Christ.
It is the same for all of us. It is the same for the young politician I told you about at the beginning of the message. There comes a point when we know that we have a choice between right and wrong, light and darkness and we know in our souls what we should do.
The choice is always yours. But remember, you didn’t seek Jesus first, He sought you. Let Him finish what He has started in you. It may not be what you want but it is most certainly what you need to be spiritually reborn.
Bend the knee and bow the head before Him. He knows what He is doing. Do you?