Themes: : Quotes Of Interest ----Ministry Minute.
Commentary on
Sunday's Gospel- Theme:
Quotes Of Interest
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The principles of the kingdom of God cannot be woven by
unregenerated men into the pattern of our pagan society. The blueprints of the
age to come cannot be forced upon this present world.
Vance Havner
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The key to the history of the world is the kingdom of God.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
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MINISTRY MINUTE
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When God elects us, it is not because we are handsome.
John Calvin
On the Trinity
Thousands of the ablest minds of the centuries have pondered this
problem and no man has been able to explain it; who then invented it? What man
can invent, man can explain: what man cannot explain, man cannot have. It must
be a revelation.
G. H. Lang
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Commentary on Sunday's Gospel
Gospel Reading for Trinity Sunday
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(My apologies for the rather long extract. It is worthy of your
time! GMG)
The present section begins properly with the last three verses of
chapter 2. We read, "Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the
feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he
did" (v. 23). A faith that rests upon miracles is not a saving faith. A
faith that rests upon signs and wonders does not bring salvation to anyone.
That is why it is not worth while for us to debate with unbelievers about their
objections to the inspiration of the Bible. Jesus said, "Go ye into all
the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark. 16:15). We are
told, "The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness"
(1 Cor. 1:18). Paul says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for
it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew
first, and also to the Greek" (Rom. 1:16). God gives miracles to authenticate
the Word, but faith must rest on something far better than miracles.
Here were people waiting for the Messiah to come, and they said,
"Well, now, if Messiah came, could He do any more miracles than Jesus did?
He must be the One of whom the prophets have spoken." In that sense they
believed that He was Messiah, but they did not confess that they were guilty
souls needing salvation and they did not see in Jesus the Savior whom they
needed. They believed in His name when they saw the miracles, but the rest of
the verse says that Jesus did not commit Himself to them. The words commit and
believe are really just the same in the original. We might read it, "Many
believed in His name, but Jesus did not believe in them." He did not trust
His interests to them, because He knew they were not genuine. He knew what was
in man and needed not that any should testify of man. He knew the wickedness
and unreliability of the human heart.
... Because Jesus was God manifest in the flesh, He knew what was in
man. He is as truly omniscient as the Father. He knows what is in you and me,
and yet, knowing it all, He loved us and gave Himself for us. But He does not
trust us or rely upon these wicked hearts of ours. He knows that we cannot be
depended upon. We are lost and ruined and undone. What we need, therefore, is a
new life. We need to be born again, and that is the new life He gives us.
There is a little Greek word that has been dropped out in our
English translation here. It sometimes is translated "and," though
more generally, "but." It is the same word used in the beginning of
verse 24 of chapter 2. So, if we put it in its right place at the beginning of
verse 1 of chapter 3, we read, "[But] there was a man of the
Pharisees." The Spirit of God thus puts this man in contrast with the
people of verses 23-25. Here is a man whom Jesus recognizes as sterlingly
honest in seeking after truth. Whenever our Lord finds a man who is really in
earnest, He will see that that man will get the truth. You ask, "Well,
what about the heathen who have never heard? Will God condemn them to
everlasting judgment for not believing in a Savior of whom they have never
heard?" No, of course not. But what He will do is this: He will condemn
the heathen for all the sins of which they have not repented, but He will see
that every repentant soul gets light enough to be saved. He will not let a man
be lost if he is seeking for the truth.
So here is Nicodemus, an honest seeker, and Jesus treats him as
such. "There was a man of the Pharisees [the most religious group in
Jerusalem], named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews." But this man, now face
to face with the Christ of God, finds out he has a tremendous lack. A great
many people are like Nicodemus. They are good folk, they reverence spiritual
things, and yet there are many who have not confessed their sins before God and
know not the second birth. Have you not often said, in the words of Tennyson.
"Oh, for a man to arise in me, that the man that I am might cease to
be?" You are dissatisfied with yourself, yet you have never turned to
Christ that you may be born again. Let us follow our Lord Jesus’ conversation
with Nicodemus. Let us listen as though we had never heard it before.
Here is Nicodemus. "The same came to Jesus by night" (v.
2a). I am not going to scold him for that. Some preachers do. I see no evidence
of cowardice there. He does not act like a coward. I think Jesus was busy all
day long, and Nicodemus says, "I would like to have a close-up talk with
that man, and I cannot do it in a crowd. Perhaps if I ask Peter or James or
John where He lives, I can have a private interview." And so he arranges
to see and talk with Him at night after the Lord has withdrawn from the
throngs. All honor to Nicodemus that he was interested enough to go. I am not
going to find fault with him because he went by night.
Nicodemus began by saying, "Rabbi, we know that thou art a
teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except
God be with him-" (v. 2b). This was not the end of the sentence. The
Savior interrupted him, and declared, "Verily, verily [truly, truly; amen,
amen], I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God" (v. 3). "Born again," or "born from above"?
After all, I think the emphasis is on the newness of it. That which made the
impression on Nicodemus was not so much "born from above," but being
born for the second time, "born again. "Jesus was saying, as it were,
"It does not help to say nice things, Nicodemus. You need more than a
teacher, you need a Savior-One who can give you a new life. You need a second
birth!" "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God."
There is a widespread notion today that men may be educated into
Christianity. Religious Education is one of the greatest abominations of the
present day. The idea is that you can take a child and instruct him along the
lines of the Christian philosophy and thus educate him into salvation. I do not
object to the term Christian Education. I believe that is a right and proper thing.
It is right and proper to instruct the Christian along Christian lines. But
Religious Education that simply tries to make people Christians by educating
them into it will, I believe, be the means of making tens of thousands of
hypocrites instead of making them Christians. "Ye must be born
again." There must be the communication of a new life.
Nicodemus said, "But I don’t understand it. How can a man be
born when he is old? Can he go through the whole process of nature again? Why,
that seems absurd. Just imagine! Can I go back and be born of my mother
again?" And Jesus says to him, "Nicodemus, listen to Me. It would not
make any difference if you could. You would be no better off the next time than
you were before. The natural birth does not count. It must be a spiritual
birth." "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is
flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said
unto thee, Ye must be born again" (vv. 5-7). What weighty words are these!
First the Savior says, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." What did He mean?
I know that there are those who tell us that to be born of water
means to be born of baptism. But no one ever received the new life by water
baptism. You can search your Bible in vain for anything like that. It is not
there. It is not in the Word of God. Nowhere is baptism in Scripture likened to
birth. It rather speaks of death. We are buried with Him by baptism into death.
Water baptism is the picture of the burial of the old man, not a picture of a
second birth.
Well, then, what is the water by which we are born again? Go through
the Word of God. Nowhere do we find people being born of literal water. Trace
"water" through John’s writings. You will find that it is the
recognized symbol for the Word of God. David asked the question in Psalm 119:9,
"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according
to thy word." And in the fourth chapter of John, Jesus, speaking to the
woman of Samaria, said, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst
again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never
thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water
springing up into everlasting life" (4:14). What is the water that Jesus
gives? It is the water of the Word. It is the testimony of the gospel. "As
cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country" (Prov.
25:25). "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Rev.
22:17).
What is the water of life? It is the gospel message. We read in
Ephesians 5:25-27, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved
the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with
the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a
glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it
should be holy and without blemish." And Jesus says to His disciples,
"Now ye are clean through the word" (John 15:3). So we are to be born
again by the Word of God, brought home to our hearts and consciences by the
Holy Spirit.
Here are two men sitting side by side as a preacher, proclaiming the
gospel of God, perhaps quotes some such verse of Scripture as, "This is a
faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners; of whom I am chief" (1 Tim. 1:15). One man pays no
attention. The other man looks up and says, "What! He came to save
sinners! I am a sinner. I will trust Him." What led him to do that? The
Holy Spirit using the Word as the means of his second birth. "Except a man
be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God." The Lord makes it very clear that there is a great distinction
between the flesh and Spirit. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh;
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." You can do anything you
like with the flesh, but it does not turn it into spirit. If you baptize it, it
is baptized flesh. If you make it religious, it is religious flesh. Flesh
remains flesh to the very end. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh;
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
Ye must be born again."
Nicodemus said, "How can these things be?" (v. 9). The
Lord explains that there are mysteries in nature that we cannot understand.
"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that
is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8). You cannot see the wind, but you
recognize its power. You cannot see the Holy Spirit, but you recognize His
power. He is invisible, but He makes His presence felt in a mighty way as He
convicts and regenerates sinful men. He changes men completely. You recognize
the power, although you do not see it actually working. You see a vain worldly
woman, and suddenly she becomes a quiet woman of prayer. You see a wicked, godless
man changed into a saint. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. You do not see
the Spirit, but you see the power manifest in the life.
Nicodemus is still perplexed and says, "How can these things
be?" Jesus says, "Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these
things?" (v. 10). He should have known about the new birth. He had the
Bible. In Isaiah 44:3 we find these words: "For I will pour water upon him
that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon thy
seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." What is this? Why, God is
saying, "By the water of My Word and by the power of My Spirit I am going
to work the miracle of the new birth."
In Ezekiel 36:25 we have the same thing: "Then will I sprinkle
clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from
all your idols will I cleanse you." There you have it again, "Born of
water and of the Spirit." "Why," He says, "Nicodemus, you
are a master in Israel and you are surprised when I speak of being born of water
and the Spirit! You should have known this." "If I have told you
earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of
heavenly things?" (John 3:12). What does He mean by this? Well, these
earthly things were spoken of in the Old Testament. It was always necessary to
be born again in order to come into God’s kingdom. This kingdom was heaven’s
rule on earth. But Jesus knew that that earthly kingdom was, for the time
being, set aside. He said, "I have other secrets, but you will not understand
them. You do not even understand earthly things." I think the Lord meant
that Nicodemus was not ready for a revelation of the heavenly kingdom because
he had not apprehended the truth of the earthly things.
"And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down
from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven" (v. 13). Let me say
here, and I frankly say so, I do not know whether Jesus said that, or whether
John the apostle wrote it as inspired of the Holy Spirit. If the text were
written as ordinary literature, we might have a quotation mark at the end of
verse 12, and then verse 13 might come in as a parenthesis. I do not know
whether that is so or not. It may be that Jesus said this, or it may be that
John put it in to explain a mystery. What is the mystery? No one has ever
ascended to heaven of his volition. Enoch was caught up; Elijah went up in a
whirlwind. If these words were spoken by the Lord Jesus, He was looking into
the future when He should ascend. If they were written by John, then he had in
mind the ascension. But the wonder of it is this, that He who came down from
heaven and had the power to ascend into heaven was at all times the Son of Man
in heaven, for He was omnipresent.
In verse 14 we have our Lord’s answer to Nicodemus’s questions. He
refers him to an incident that occurred long years before in the wilderness,
and He says, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of man be lifted up." That is your answer, Nicodemus. It
is as though Jesus said, "I am going to the cross, and there on that cross
I will become the antitype of that brass serpent. There I will be made sin in
order that sinners may become the righteousness of God through faith in
Me." In the wilderness it was the serpents that afflicted the people. The
poison of these dreadful creatures was in the blood of the dying Israelites.
The remedy was a serpent of brass uplifted, and all who looked to it were
healed. It was sin that caused the trouble for humanity. The serpent was a type
of Satan and sin. But what took place on the cross? The sinless One was made
sin for us. He is the antitype of that brazen serpent. That serpent lifted up
on the pole had no poison in it. It had never done anybody any harm. It was a
picture of the great sin offering. When they looked to it, they were healed.
The Lord Jesus Christ had no sin in Him, but in grace He took the sinner’s
place. When people look to Him in faith they are born again-they have eternal
life. Have you looked to Him? Have we all looked to Him? All who believe in Him
shall never die but have life eternal.
Ironside's Notes on Selected Books (Baptist)
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Geordie+
