Jesus Meets Us ... when we have tried religion

 

BALTEAGH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

WEEKEND OF MISSION AND THANKSGIVING – KENNY HANNA

NOTES FROM FRIDAY 27 OCTOBER 2023

John 3 verses 1 – 21, chapter 19 verse 38 – 42

I used to love to build things as a child.  I particularly used to love Lego.  I would build towers as high as I could before they fell down.  Adults play that game.  We call it religion.  We try to build our Lego towers of our good works.  We hope that if we are good enough, kind enough that when our lives are over God will pat us on the back and say “you were not so bad, I think I will let you into heaven.”  Actually John 3 makes it clear that not only will this tower not bring us to God but it will stop us coming to him.  Your tower of good works will not get you to God and will stop you coming to God.  Trusting in our good works means we will not have a hope of being in heaven.  Jesus meets us when we have tried religion.  In this chapter Jesus meets Nicodemus. 

 

Being born again is a free gift which people misunderstand and reject.  Verses 1 – 7, 9 to 10. This man is a Pharisee.  The Pharisees believed the first 5 books but added on 613 separate do’s and don’ts.  They had to keep them all.  They made up an Oral law as well.  They put a protective hedge around them.  Nicodemus tried to live by all of that.    He was a member of the Jewish ruling council, the highest court they had.  That law court provided justice for everything except when a man was killed.  Nicodemus built a tower of good works but he asks Jesus some questions.  Jesus was put in the docks.  “We know you are a teacher come from God for no man can do these miracles that you do except God be with him.”  In other words “you are pretty impressive, in fact you are more than that.  We have been waiting for a Messiah for centuries, more years than you can count, are you that Messiah?”  To see the kingdom of God means you must be born again Jesus tells Nicodemus.  His tower of good works was a waste of time.  It would not achieve what Nicodemus wanted it to achieve.  He needed a new radical birth.  The second question is seen in verses 4 – 7.  Jesus uses pictures for Nicodemus.  He was a very religious person, a member of the ruling Jewish council, everyone looked up to him.  Jesus uses visual aids to show him what he means.  He uses the picture of water – our sins have to be washed away.  We use water to wash away the dirt.  We are cleansed by Jesus’ blood.  We are born again.  God’s free gift.  When Nicodemus asks the next question in verses 9 and 10 he doesn’t really understand what Jesus means.  Jesus responds in verse 10 - here’s this man, a religious man who has no idea how to get into God’s kingdom.  We all need our lives radically made new again.  We cannot earn it, only receive it by the free gift from God.  If you are trying to build your religious tower of good works to heaven it is no use.  When we were at school in biology and chemist we used microscopes to examine things up close and deep down.  Jesus’ microscope analyses our hearts, shows us our deceitful heart.  It puffs us up, makes us believe we don’t need much, we don’t need anything radical like being born again.  If you think like that you need to see that it is a free gift.  Religious people misunderstand and reject it.  So many say “I don’t like this phrase being born again” but it is absolutely relevant to what Jesus is all about.  What we think is totally irrelevant.

 

Secondly, rejection of Jesus’ death on the cross should change our rejection of Jesus to faith in Jesus – verses 14 to 17.  Jesus uses more visual aids.  As a teacher of the Old Testament Jesus has to teach the teacher.  He has to show him what this means.  He refers to the story in Numbers when the people were bitten by snakes in the wilderness.  God tells Moses to create a brazen snake so that when the people looked to it they were saved.  Jesus tells Nicodemus that if he would look to him he would be saved.  If we would look to Jesus dying on the cross we will never die, we would have eternal life.  When we put our faith and trust in Jesus we are born again.  It is only possible through Jesus.  God sees us and sees our sin.  He knows our hearts are deceitful and full of pride.  Romans 5 verse 8 “But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  Think of the image of the selfless mum.  Flat out every day working in the home.  When it comes to tea and she puts a delicious meal on the table then everyone starts to grumble and complain – what are they doing?  They are throwing her deep selfless love back in her face.  Are you throwing Jesus’ love back in his face?  Has his love for you made you take that love and throw it back at him?  It is even greater than your mum’s love.  Jesus died for people who throw his love for them back in his face – is that you?  I have to bring bad news as well as good news.  A diagnosis has to be made.  The bad news comes before the cure.

 

Thirdly, if we are rejecting Jesus we have already condemned ourselves – verses 18 – 21.  If we don’t love Jesus, trust in him, we cannot blame God.  It is 100% on us.   We meet these 2 verbs – “not believing” and “condemned”.  They are written in such a way that mean a finished action.  Here are people who don’t believe in Jesus.  They will not change their mind.  They dig their heels in about Jesus.  There is no changing their minds at all.  It is honestly possible to come along to a mission having decided before you come it will not change your life.  Have you come having decided before you came it will not change your life?  Have you come having decided already to dig your heels in?  Have you come with a closed mind?  Maybe you have come like that tonight.  If that is your attitude to Jesus we don’t need to wait until the day of judgment, we are condemned already.  Jesus gives the verdict in verses 19 to 21.  It is the people who have closed their minds to Jesus who are actually on trial here.  We have condemned ourselves.  Jesus God’s Son describes himself as the “light of the world”.  He has come to wipe your slate clean.  To give you a brand new life but people prefer darkness.  Do you prefer the darkness of your sin to Jesus’ light?  Think of the stone lying on the ground that a farmer lifts.  What do you find under that stone?  Insects and what do they do?  They run for cover.  They don’t like the light.  They are trying to hide themselves in the darkness.  If we are not trusting in Jesus we prefer the darkness.  We want to get out of the light, the sunlight of Jesus.  The Son of God has exposed the darkness of sins and we don’t like that.

 

That is all the bad news but the story of Nicodemus does not end there – John 19.

 

We can change our reaction to Jesus before it is too late.  John 19 verses 38 – 42.  There is a big change in Nicodemus’ reaction to Jesus but it comes after Jesus’ death on the cross.  Why is there a big change?  There is only one explanation – Nicodemus has been born again.  It was dangerous for him to be a follower of Jesus.  Jesus has died, his followers have fled and deserted him but Nicodemus here in these verses is taking a public stand and saying “I love Jesus”.  He comes with another secret follower, Joseph, also a member of the Sanhedrin.  What a change in Nicodemus.  In chapter 3 he came secretly at night so no-one would see him.  Now in chapter 19 the whole country can see.  What is he doing?  He is taking Jesus’ body down from the cross and preparing him for burial.  He is putting up his hands and saying “I follow Jesus”.  Why?  Because he has been born again.  Jesus meets us where we are.  Have we tried religion and found it empty?  We say we don’t need all this stuff about being born again.  It is time to put the Lego away, to put it back in the box.  This tower you are building of good works, trying to get to heaven needs to be put away.  That is not the way to enter the kingdom of God.  There is only one way.  Will you change your mind about Jesus?  Will you say “I have got it all wrong.”  That is repentance.  Will you say “I want to trust in Jesus’ death and resurrection, in his saving power to help me live from now on?”  Will you be born again?  Jesus knew Nicodemus when he had tried religion and he will meet us where we are at if only we will trust him tonight.