Nicodemus' Story - Part 3 of 5
John 3:9-13 9 Nicodemus said to Jesus, "How can these things (being born of the Spirit) happen?" 10 Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? 11 "Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
Again, Nicodemus wants to know... "How can this spiritual birth happen to me?" Nothing in the current Jewish curriculum taught what Jesus is now teaching to Nicodemus.
But as is almost always true... this isn't a new teaching that Jesus just pulls from the air. The ancient prophets taught it hundreds of years before Jesus' birth. Nicodemus, as a teacher of the Jews should know all about it...
Are you trying to follow Jesus by your own sheer will power? What if you trusted in Jesus and let the Holy Spirit take over? How would it change this day?
John 3:9-13 9 Nicodemus said to Jesus, "How can these things (being born of the Spirit) happen?" 10 Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? 11 "Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
Again, Nicodemus wants to know... "How can this spiritual birth happen to me?" Nothing in the current Jewish curriculum taught what Jesus is now teaching to Nicodemus.
But as is almost always true... this isn't a new teaching that Jesus just pulls from the air. The ancient prophets taught it hundreds of years before Jesus' birth. Nicodemus, as a teacher of the Jews should know all about it...
Ezekiel 36:25-28 25 I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. 28 Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.The problem was... Nicodemus was a pharisee and instead of knowing God, they focused on making sure their students knew the right rules and followed them. Their relationship with God was through a list of rules. He believed that the more will power he had to keep the rules, the more in favor with God he became. He had no concept that his relationship with God would be through trusting in Jesus (receiving the testimony of Jesus) as the son of God and by Holy Spirit's will and power - not his own.
Are you trying to follow Jesus by your own sheer will power? What if you trusted in Jesus and let the Holy Spirit take over? How would it change this day?
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