The Gospel of John Made Easy
Chapter 3
Verses 1-16
Verses 1 – 7
Nicodemus was ruler or leader of the Jewish people. He was part of a group of men called Pharisees. They were a religious group of men who studied the Old Testament and knew it very well.
They also made many extra religious rules that Jews were to obey.
Most of the Pharisees did not believe that Jesus was God. They knew that Jesus was doing miracles and they could not explain that. They knew that the people thought Jesus was special.
Nicodemus came to meet Jesus one night. We do not know why he came at night. We could guess and think maybe he did not want the other Pharisees to know he was talking with Jesus.
Nicodemus told Jesus that he believed he was from God and that is why he could do the miracles.
Jesus said something to Nicodemus that has become a verse that preachers say a lot. “Except or Unless a man is born again, he can not see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3
“If a person is not “born again” he can not go to heaven.”
We would say, “How can a person be born again?”
Nicodemus asked Jesus this question. He said, “How can a man who is grown go back into his mother and be born again?”
Jesus did not mean that he was to be born in body again.
Verse 6 Jesus said, “Whatever is flesh (body) is flesh (body), and whatever is spirit is spirit.”
Verse 5 “Unless a person is born of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God.”
Jesus was saying that the human body can make another human body.
People give birth to human bodies.
Each person has been given a spirit. It is the spirit that needs to be “reborn”. The spirit needs to have new life from God.
Just as person is born the first time in the “flesh” or body, a person needs to be born in his spirit.
Because of sin coming into the world through Adam, sin has come to all people.
We can see how even very young children, 1 year old, even less—we do not have to teach them to do wrong things. We have seen very young children —when a parent tells them “No”—-the child will watch the parent and go ahead and do what the parent said not to do—-the child is watching to see what the parent will do about it.
Very young children, even babies, cry in anger. They throw a mad “fit” if they do not get what they want.
Does anyone have to teach them to do this? No, it is sin and self rule.
Sin is in all of us. We do not have to learn how to sin. We do it naturally.
Our spirits need new life—-God’s life. We need to get the sin out of our spirits, we need to have God’s spirit in us.
This is what “born again” means. It means to have our sinful spirits born new with God’s spirit coming into us.
Because we have a will—-we can choose—we have control over our spirits and minds. We decide what we will let happen. We decide if we will let God’s spirit come into us. We decide if we will let God’s spirit control us and help us make decisions.
At any time, we can choose not to let God’s spirit control us. At any time, we can say we do not want God’s spirit in us.
Having God’s spirit in us is the best for us. Sin will do bad things for our life here on earth. Sin will keep us out of heaven. Sin will take us to hell.
Most of us want God’s spirit to be in us to take us to heaven. Not everyone wants to let God’s spirit control their life. Not everyone wants to let the Holy Spirit lead them and guide then through the decisions of life.
“Self” control of “self” is something we find hard to give up.
Just like Eve and Adam, they did not want to obey what God told them about the tree. They would do as they wanted. They did not want God in control of what tree they ate from.
We know all the trouble and terrible things that Eve and Adam’s sin brought to the world.
As people we have a hard time thinking that if we give control of our lives to God that it would be good. We always seem to think that if we control it—we can do better. That is not true. God can do better for us than we can do for ourselves.
Verses 8 -16
Jesus said to Nicodemus—–The spirit is like the wind. The wind blows where it will. You hear the sound of it. You can not tell where it came from or where it is going. This is the way it is with people who have been born of the spirit of God.
The Spirit of God moves in the world. The Spirit of God comes to live in people who trust in Jesus. We do not understand how this can be.
God’s ways are above our understanding.
Just as the wind moves as it will—-the Spirit of God moves about the world and in people.
Nicodemus said, “How can these things happen?”
Jesus said, “How can you be a religious leader in Israel and not understand what I am telling you?”
Jesus tells him, —-We talk about the things that are happening and say that the miracles are from God, I do the miracles, and I am from God, but your group of people will not believe.
Jesus says—-If you will not believe what we say about things here on earth, how will you believe what I say about things in heaven?
Jesus said, “No one has gone up into heaven, and only one has come down from heaven—-the Son of Man. Just like Moses lifted up the serpent (snake) in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” “Everyone who trusts in him (Son of Man) will have eternal life.”
Number 21: 9 Tells the story of Moses and the serpent. The people had been bitten by snakes. God told Moses to put a snake on a pole, the people were to look at the snake on the pole when they were bitten, if they did that, they would live and not die.
Jesus would be lifted up on a cross. He would take the death for sin for every person. Every one who looks to Jesus will live and not die.
Verse 16 is a most famous verse—-many people can say it by memory—-Jesus said, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish (die), but have everlasting life.”
This verse explains salvation in very easy words. God loved everyone so much, he sent his son , Jesus, anyone who believes in him, will not die, but will have life forever.