Crazy Things That Jesus Said
Christmas Eve “You Must be Born Again”
John 3:1-21
12/24/24
Justin Scarberry
Message Notes
John 3:1-21 NIV
Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Nicodemus was part of a group called the Pharisees, the religious elite of the time who would have been very well acquainted with the scriptures regarding the Messiah/Savior. They were very law centered, even making several of their own laws to go along with the 600 plus laws in the Old Testament (Genesis through Malachi in the Bible). This law focus became a tremendous burden to the Jewish people.
Nicodemus is checking into this new way that would be called Christianity.
Jesus tells Nicodemus he has to be “born again”. Jesus is referring to the eternal Spirit that all of us have. He gives him an Old Testament example from the book of Numbers 21:4-7 that would have caused him to think even more. A teacher of the law, Nicodemus would have been contemplating missed scriptures like:
Isaiah 9:6 NKJV
6 For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
The Pharisees didn’t understand that the scriptures were being fulfilled in their lifetime! Other’s did search for Jesus based on scripture!
Numbers 21:17 NIV
17 “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob;
a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the people of Sheth
Isaiah 7:14 NKJV
14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
The Pharisees got so caught up in their religion, they missed the main point of what the scriptures were about! Jesus! They rejected the promised Messiah/Savior that their scriptures pointed forward too! Scriptures that they poured over constantly in study.
Why do people reject Jesus today? Because Jesus shines a light on all the dark things we’ve been doing! We often don’t want to change the way we’ve been living so we reject God’s prompting telling us there is a better way to live.
The Bible tells us our sin has separated us from God. The Bible also tells us the price of that sin (the wages) is death. If we die in our sins, we will be eternally separated from God. Jesus paid the price for that sin for us by dying on the cross and God accepted that payment by raising Him from the dead 3 days later. Do you believe He did that for you? Do you believe that Jesus’ sacrifice paid for your sin?
Have you asked Jesus to take over the leadership of your life?
Or have you rejected His offer to pay for your sins?
Do you want to be 100% sure of where you will spend eternity?
What is holding you back from making that commitment?
BYO Bible!-January Have a Bible just sitting around the house not getting any use? Looking to get a new Bible? Calling on everyone to bring your Bible to church for the next series starting in January (now is good too!). The church also has extra Bibles if you need one. Digital Bibles are great tools to use but also can sometimes be a distraction. Dust off that old print Bible and bring it on in so we can all dig into God’s Word together.
Zelle: The board is working on setting up Zelle to use for a digital option for giving. Should be up and running in January.
Small Groups will resume in January! Would you like to start the year digging in a little deeper to God’s Word in a small group? Or maybe God has put it on your heart to host a small group. Reach out to Justin or Paulette and we can help guide you to where God wants you to be!
