Jesus the Gift of God
Scripture: John 3:1-21
I. Jesus is a gift who makes you born again.
A. God had promised His people that they could be born again. You can be new. What did Jesus mean by born again? He explains what he means when he says in vs. 5, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Being born again means being born of water and the Spirit. Ezekiel 36:25-27: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”
II. Jesus is a gift who knows what He’s talking about.
A. Nicodemus had begun his conversation with Jesus in vs. 2 by pompously saying, “Rabbi, we know.” Jesus responds in vs. 11 by saying, “We speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen.” Jesus uses the royal we here. He speaks in the plural to add authority to his words. No human has ever gone into heaven and come back to earth to give us a report. But Jesus says in vs. 13 I have come from heaven as the human Son of Man to tell you about God.
III. Jesus is a gift who dies for you.
A. Jesus refers to an Old Testament story in vs. 14-15 from Numbers 21:4-9 to show us how He changes us. The people complained about God and Moses bringing them into the wilderness to die. God judged them by sending venomous snakes among them. Many Israelites died. When the people asked Moses to pray for God to save them, God told Moses to set up a bronze snake on a pole. If the people looked at the snake, they would be healed and saved. Nicodemus, like the people of Israel in Moses’ day, is standing under God’s judgment. He too has rejected God’s provision of salvation in the gift of Jesus dying for him. He can’t see how important Jesus is. But if he looks in faith at Jesus dying for his sins on the cross, he will have eternal life.
IV. Jesus is a gift who reveals God’s love for you.
A. Why would Jesus die for you? Love. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son. He loved the people in the world even though we were and are evil (vs. 19). God sacrificed His Son to save a world that defied Him and rebelled against Him. Jesus died so that you might have life. If you have not yet received eternal life through faith in Jesus, put your faith in Jesus today.
Application:
Receive the gift of Jesus in your life by faith today. He will make you new and give you life.
Sources:
The Bible
Commentaries by D.A. Carson, Herman Ridderbos, and Edward Klink.
Sermon Discussion Questions
1) How does verse 5 help to explain vs. 3? What does it mean to be born again? How does Ezekiel 36 show us what it means to be born of water and the Spirit?
2) Even though Nicodemus is the teacher of Israel about God, does he know what he is talking about (vs. 10)? Why can we be sure that Jesus knows what He is talking about (vs. 13)?
3) How is Nicodemus like the Israelites who complained in the wilderness? What is the only salvation for Nicodemus and us (vs. 14-15)? What motivated God to give us the gift of His Son (vs. 16)?