WWUTT 806 If I Have Told You Earthly Things?

How can a physical person understand spiritual things? You can't. It's impossible. All you know is the physical. In order to understand the spiritual, well, that takes the mind of Christ. When we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text, as an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty, visit our website at www .utt .com.

Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Jesus and Nicodemus in John 3

Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus in John chapter 3. To recap, I'm going to start in verse 1 and read through verse 15. 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. Jesus answered him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus answered 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? Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. 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. Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be? Jesus answered him, are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? 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.

If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the son of man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Spiritual Blindness and the New Birth

So once again, in verse nine, Nicodemus said to Jesus, how can these things be? Because remember, Nicodemus is thinking as a naturally minded man. He doesn't have the mind of God, but he is thinking with the mind of a man.

This is evidenced by Jesus saying to him, unless one is born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And 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?

Why did Nicodemus have such an absurd reply? Well, it sounded absurd to him because he was a naturally minded man. If he thought with the spirit of God rather than his dead spirit that was in him, then he would have been able to understand what it was that Jesus said.

But because his spirit was still dead within him, then he could not see with new eyes or hear with spiritual ears these things that Jesus was telling him, what he was teaching him. And so Nicodemus replies in very natural ways.

He doesn't get what Jesus is saying about being born of water and the spirit. He doesn't understand what Jesus said about the way the spirit works, that you can't see the spirit just like you cannot see the wind, but you see the effects of the wind.

And so it is with the Holy Spirit also. You don't see the spirit, but you see the effects of the spirit and the effect of the spirit. According to what Jesus was referencing in Ezekiel chapters 36 and 37, the effect of the spirit is a regenerated heart where previously we were born physically alive, but spiritually dead.

The Holy Spirit of God has raised our dead spirits to life. And we have this in Romans chapter eight. We are told that the same spirit that brought Jesus to life, brought him back again from the dead is the very spirit that lives inside of every believer.

Romans eight 11. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

The same spirit of God that brought Jesus to life is the very same spirit that has brought you to life, that has raised your dead spirit to new life. Titus three five. We are told that he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our savior.

And that's exactly what Jesus is saying here to Nicodemus. The change that happens in your heart is a change that has taken place by the power of the Holy Spirit. But how does that work? Like at what point does that actually happen?

We don't know. There was just a clip that Ligonier shared online just this past week from R .C. Sproul, who was talking about how regeneration precedes faith. The Holy Spirit of God regenerates our hearts so that we believe the gospel that is being proclaimed to us.

But regeneration happens first, and then the person who hears the gospel becomes a believer and a worshiper of God. But again, where did this happen in the sequence of salvation? At what point was a person regenerated?

Well, we don't know that. The Holy Spirit does as he wishes. He does as he wills. We are born not by the will of man, but by the will of God. So just as the wind blows to and fro, we don't know where it comes from or where it goes.

We see its effects, but you can't say, well, there's the wind right there. You can't point to it. And that's the same way the Holy Spirit works. We don't know at exactly what point. A person has been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.

At what second exactly did that person become saved, was no longer fallen, no longer under the wrath of God, but was rather in his love and adopted into his family? Where did that happen in this process in the life of that person?

We'll never know for sure. And I'm a person who cannot tell you even the day that I got saved. I don't know. I don't know what date it was. I know that I am. I know that I am a Christian. And it has to do with what the word of God says to me, not because I've done anything to merit my salvation, but I see the promises of God in his word.

And I know that I have received these promises by faith in Jesus Christ. So I know my salvation is true and it is secure. But I don't know what day that happened. I don't know when exactly I went from being a sinner who was under the judgment of God to a saint who is growing in holiness and is being sanctified and is looking forward to the day that Christ returns, the day that I go to be with him in glory.

I don't know where that transition occurred. But there are some people that know at least the day. They might even know somewhat of a moment. I know exactly at what point I went from hating God to mourning over my sin, and suddenly I loved God and wanted to worship him with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength.

There are people that have those testimonies, and they're wonderful. I actually just heard one yesterday from somebody who is becoming a member of our church. But I don't know. For myself, I don't know what day that it occurred.

This was the day I became a Christian. Even for those who know that, you still don't know the exact moment that you were saved. I went from being lost to found or something. Here was the transition point.

I was headed to hell. Now, I'm headed to heaven. When did that transition happen? This is a mysterious work of the Holy Spirit, and we simply praise God for his mercy and his grace upon us, that though we deserve to die because of our sin, yet he has shown his love to us and has given us his son to die for our sins and rise again from the grave so that all who believe in him will not perish, but we will inherit his eternal life.

But more than that, more than just something that happened on a cross 2 ,000 years ago, which is more than just something, it is the most significant event to have occurred in human history. But more than just that, when you're talking about soteriology, God has given us his Holy Spirit and soteriology, meaning the study of salvation.

Part of that salvation is that God would continue to grow us in holiness. He doesn't simply convert us and then just leave us be. But there was a work that started in us on that day that we came to Christ, and it's a work that continues even now.

And God has given his Holy Spirit to us who dwells within us. And so by the spirit that lives in us, we're more than just a converted person, a converted man or woman, but we are being made into the image of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit that is within us.

Paul said to the Philippians, I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it on the day of Christ. The day that you became a Christian was the day that that work began, and it will continue until the day that you join the Lord in glory.

So every day you've got a responsibility to take thoughts captive, to make them obedient to Christ, to desire to have the mind of Christ, to do what is pleasing to God, to submit the members of your body as instruments of righteousness rather than as instruments of unrighteousness.

Paul talks about that in Romans 6, and we need to continue to grow in maturity. Read 2 Peter 1, starting in verse 3, where Peter talks about that. If we have been justified, if we are among God's elect, then we will confirm our election by showing a production of holiness that takes place in our lives until that day comes when we are taken from this world to be at home with the Lord.

The Teacher of Israel and the Testimony of Christ

And so Nicodemus is being told by Christ about the Holy Spirit, and Nicodemus doesn't get it. He doesn't understand the Spirit of God because he can't comprehend spiritual things. He's the naturally minded man that Paul talked about in 1 Corinthians 2.

So Nicodemus says to him in verse 9, how can these things be? And as I pointed out last week, Jesus had made references to things that Ezekiel had said in chapters 36 and 37. And so this is why Jesus said to him in verse 10, are you the teacher of Israel and yet you don't understand these things?

The words that I've been saying to you, they are the words of God. They have been proclaimed in the Old Testament from of old. Of course, Jesus wouldn't have used the term Old Testament, but it's there in the scriptures, the same scriptures that Nicodemus studied and was accountable to teach to the nation of Israel.

Jesus said, you're a teacher of Israel and yet you don't understand the things that I'm saying to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, and remember again what I said last week about these two words, truly, truly, translated from Hebrew as Jesus and Nicodemus would have been speaking, you know, Hebrew or Aramaic or something like that with one another.

Translated from that language, it would have been the word Amen. That's how we, you know, pronounce it in English. But it means so be it. It means to be in agreement with what was just said. But for Jesus to put it at the beginning of the statement is to say, I have firsthand knowledge of what it is that I am telling you.

Furthermore, what I am saying to you originates with me. It was Jesus making a claim of his divinity without outright saying, I am God. But again, he says to Nicodemus, truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.

Now, who is the hour that Jesus is talking about where there's two possibilities or both of these possibilities together? Jesus could have been referring to himself and John the Baptist, because as we saw in chapter one, when John the Baptist was speaking in the wilderness and when people were coming to him to be baptized, the Pharisees sent some investigators to go out there and ask John the Baptist some questions.

But the Pharisees did not believe the words that John the Baptist said. And so Jesus comes speaking the same words that John the Baptist said, because John the Baptist was making the way for Christ, the Messiah, who was coming into the world.

Now, this is made a little bit more evident in Matthew, where John the Baptist preaches in Matthew, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then the first words that Jesus says at the beginning of his earthly ministry are exactly those words, Matthew 417, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

So what John the Baptist preached, Jesus also preached. So when he says here to Nicodemus, what we testify about, we speak of what we know, but you don't receive our testimony. So that could have been Jesus referring to himself and also John the Baptist.

The other possibility is that Jesus is referring to himself and also his disciples. And that's a likelihood as well. But both of those things could be true. He could have been talking about himself and John the Baptist and also his disciples.

Later on in the next chapter, when Jesus is speaking to the woman at the well, the woman is arguing about what Samaritans believe and what Jews believe. And so Jesus responds to her and says, you worship what you do not know.

We worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews. And they're once again calling attention to the things that he preached and also his disciples. And this reference to salvation being of the Jews is showing her that the fulfillment of prophecy, the same the same scriptures that she was referencing, the fulfillment of those scriptures was going to be in a messiah who came from the line of the Jewish people.

And the Samaritans were not Jews. They were not of the line of Judah. They were kind of a hodgepodge of, you know, maybe including the previous or the lost ten tribes of Israel, along with Mesopotamians that had been moved into that area hundreds of years before.

And they had the Pentateuch, the law of Moses that had been taught to them. But they did not have the rest of the prophets. And so Jesus was saying to her and we'll talk about this again when we get to chapter four.

But Jesus was saying that salvation comes from the Jews. So you want to argue about what Samaritans, what Jews believe you need to be studying the Jewish scriptures. And then you would understand better these things that you're talking about.

But here you've got a man who did study the Jewish scriptures and he didn't get them like they were pointing toward what was what was supposed to be anticipated by the things that were prophesied. Nicodemus didn't get it.

And so Jesus says, you're a teacher of Israel and you don't understand. We speak of what we know truly, truly, I say to you, what we say to you is what we know and bear witness to what we have seen. But you do not receive our testimony.

If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? So Jesus has given some very deep theological concepts to Nicodemus, but has put them in words that Nicodemus should be able to understand.

He should be able to take what he is taught from the Jewish scriptures and tie that in with what Jesus has just said. And then what Jesus is coming to fulfill, what he came preaching and teaching is what the prophets foretold.

But Nicodemus is failing to see the connection here. He starts out by talking to Jesus about signs. We know you're a teacher come from God for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

But just as Jesus said in Mark chapter one, he came to preach, not do miracles, not to heal everybody in the holy land. And so Jesus goes right into claiming his word truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is this.

And now again, truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know. And I have told you about these deep things in terms that you should be able to understand. But if you can't understand earthly things, then how can you believe if I were to tell you heavenly things, which would be so out there, you would not be able to wrap your mind around it.

So here, even the earthly examples or correlations or metaphors or whatever you would categorize them as, even these that I've given to you, you don't understand. You should be able to know that because of the sin of Adam, every person is spiritually dead.

That was the curse that if you eat of this fruit on the day that you eat of it, you will die. And everyone who was born of the line of Adam inherits that sin nature. And so you're physically alive, but you're spiritually dead.

You want to see the kingdom of God, which is spiritual in nature. It's not material, but it is a heavenly place. Then you must be born again. You were born physical. You were spiritually dead. Your spirit needs to be brought back to life.

And then once that has happened by a washing of water and the spirit, by a work that the Holy Spirit of God does on your heart. Once that has happened, then you will understand these things that I am saying to you.

And Jesus seems to also be charging Nicodemus here. He must teach these things to Israel because you're the teacher of Israel. Do you not understand these things? If you're going to be teaching, you better understand them.

If I've told you earthly things and you don't believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the son of man. We'll come back to that thought tomorrow.

And the next example that Jesus gives Nicodemus from the Old Testament scriptures. Let's conclude with prayer. Our heavenly father, we thank you for teaching us spiritual things and giving us the spirit of God so that we may be able to understand these things and knowing that the world that is around us now is something that's merely physical and all the things that we experience in our bodies that remind us that this is a physical world and furthermore a fallen world which has been subjected to futility and is decaying even right here where we are.

We're reminded of those things every day. Lord in our spirits, teach us the words that we've just read so that we're looking toward heaven, a heavenly place where all of these things that we're experiencing here on earth will be resolved.

All of creation reconciled to Christ by the work that he has accomplished on the cross. Give us a renewed mind and a hope and a peace that surpasses all understanding as we go throughout our day looking toward the heavenly kingdom that is promised us in Christ Jesus whom we have fellowship with because of your grace.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

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