Lesson 5

THE NEW BIRTH AND THE WITNESS OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

INTRODUCTION

Our lessons are found in the gospel of John chapter three with two main sections. First, Jesus teaches Nicodemus and then second the witness of John the Baptist. Nicodemus, a Pharisee, comes to Jesus by night. He is a member

of the ruling Jewish council or the Sanhedrin court, a position of high authority. He has certain convictions, though, about Jesus. He believes that Jesus is a teacher who has come from God. He also believes that He has worked miraculous signs that demonstrate that He is indeed from God. He is not blinded by prejudice as many of the other Jewish leaders were.

In John 8:48 they said about Jesus when they could not answer His arguments, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon possessed?” They attributed demon possession to Jesus, and they do it in a number of cases in the gospel of John. In Mark 3:22, they also are found saying this; “By the prince of demons, He is driving out demons.” And so these religious leaders were often very prejudiced against Jesus and unwilling to examine the evidence that He was the Son of God. Nicodemus was determined to investigate for himself. And so he came to Jesus by night, not because he was cowardly, but because it was the time of quietness, when he would be likely to obtain a lonely and personal interview.

LESSON TEXT: John 3:1-36

LESSON AIM: To understand the nature of the new birth, to see Jesus’ magnificent gift of love and to learn more of John’s selfless testimony concerning Jesus.

LESSON PREVIEW: You will . . .

Investigate the attributes of the New Birth learn that it is the entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Learn that Jesus being lifted up on the cross is comparable to the brazen serpent which Moses lifted up in the Old Testament.
Discover that the purpose for Jesus’ coming was not to judge the world but to save it.
See John’s humble attitude and spirit concerning Jesus gaining more disciples than himself.

THE WONDER OF THE NEW BIRTH (3:1-21)

Jesus, Nicodemus and the New Birth
1. The revolutionary requirement: “Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
  1. The word “see” here means to participate or to have some kind of experience with.
  2. The use of the word “see” in other New Testament passages.
    - John 3:36 – He will not experience or participate in that life.
    - Acts 2:27 – God’s Holy One would not see, nor experience, nor participate in corruption.
    - 1 Peter 3:10 – The word “see” used in the sense of participate or to experience.
  3. The nature of the new birth. It is not physical but spiritual.
    1. The words “be born again” could be translated “to be born anew” or “born from above”.
    2. The Jews trusted in their physical birth – in their relationship to Abraham.
      - Matthew 3:9 – “Do not say we have Abraham as our father.” It is not the mere physical descent from Abraham that guarantees you the right relationship with God.
      - John 8:33 – “We have Abraham as our father. We have never been slaves to anyone.”
      - Matthew 3:9 –“Out of these very stones God is able to raise up children unto Abraham.”

NOTE: It is the believing, trusting Israel that is the real Israel of God, not simply those that trusted in their physical descent from Abraham or from Jacob or from their forefathers.

Nicodemus’ evasive answer (v. 4). “How can a man be born again when he is old?”
Jesus’ plain answer (v. 5) “Unless a man is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

The Description of the New Birth (vs. 5-9) Water is involved in the New Birth.
1. Water refers to Jesus and John baptizing people (3:22-23).

“John baptized at Aenon, near Salim, because there was much water there” (v. 23).

NOTE: F.F. Bruce wrote in his commentary on the gospel of John, pages 84 and 85, these words: “It is a pity when reaction against the notion of baptismal regeneration by an opus operatum leads to the complete overlooking of the baptismal allusion in these words of Jesus.”

Practically all the commentators and scholars that have commented on John 3:5 up to the time of John Calvin, believe that water here refers to baptism.

Other New Testament passages are in harmony with this interpretation.
- Titus 3:5 – “by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”
- Mark 16:15-16 – “He that believes and is baptized will be saved.”
- Acts 22:6 – “Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.”
- Acts 2:38 – “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ . . .” The Bible tells us in verse 41 that “as many as received the word were baptized and there was added unto them in that day about 3,000 souls.”

NOTE: Can anyone deny that those people had been born again, that they had been born of water and the Spirit? Since they are spoken of as people who were saved, they must have been people who were born again.

The Holy Spirit is involved in the new birth.

The Holy Spirit’s message pricks men’s hearts.
- Leads men to faith and conviction that Jesus is the Son of God.
- Leads men to see their own sinfulness and their need of being born again.
Sometimes the power to bring forth birth is attributed to the Word.
- James 1:18 – “He chose to give us birth through the Word of truth.”
- 1 Peter 1:23 – “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable through the living and enduring Word of God.”

Three gentle rebukes (vs. 9-13).

Verse 7, “You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’”
Verse 10, “You are a teacher of Israel and you do not understand these things?”
Verse 12, “I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe.”
Analogies in the Old Testament.
Noah and his family who were saved through the waters of the flood (Genesis 6 – 9).
- In the New Testament Peter compares what happened there to what happens when a person is baptized (1 Peter 3:20-21).
- The flood that destroyed the ancient world was also the means of bringing Noah and his family safely through to a new world. It was like a new birth.

Israel crossing the Red Sea (Exodus 14 – 15).

Paul uses this in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 10 as an illustration of baptism again.
He said all of our fathers were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And when they got on the other side they found freedom. It was like a new life, like a new birth.

Naaman, the Syrian captain (2 Kings 5).
- He was a leper who needed cleansing.
- He was told to go and dip in the River Jordan seven times.
- He dipped himself seven times and was cleansed. The Greek translation says that he baptized himself.

NOTE: Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, “Nicodemus, you have all these analogies in the Old Testament. You have the example of Noah. You have the example of the Israelites passing through the Red Sea and being baptized into Moses and in the cloud and in the sea. You have the example of a man going down into the water and coming with his flesh becoming like new, like a new birth, like starting all over again. Nicodemus, why don’t you understand this principle of the new birth? As a teacher of Israel, you should have understood.”

A Breathtaking Revelation (vs. 14-15)
1. Jesus is like the brass serpent lifted up in the wilderness. In three points:
  1. Both were lifted up to public view.
  2. The curative power is in response to faith.
  3. The response of the individual determines his destiny.
2. The Old Testament account (Numbers 21).
  1. The people had murmured against God. God sent fiery serpents among them, the serpents were biting the people and they were dying.
  2. When they cried out to God, He had Moses put a bronze serpent up on a pole.
  3. And the people who looked at this bronze serpent were healed and did not die of the snake bites.
  4. Those that lived must have thought it was like a new birth again.
3. The Son of man must be lifted up like the serpent.
  1. The term “lifted up” in the gospel of John means to be lifted up on a cross.
  2. It means to be crucified (8:28). “When you have lifted up the Son of

Man then you will know who I am.”

John 12:32-33 – “When I be lifted up from the earth I will draw all men unto myself.” “This, he said, signifying by what manner of death he would die.”

NOTE: The word that is used here is a normal word for being exalted. Sometimes it is used this way in the New Testament.

Jesus was exalted in His death. He was lifted up on a cross. He never glorified God more than when He died on that cross.
1. This lifted up Savior would bring men eternal life. “They will not perish but they will have eternal life.”
2. John 5:24 – “Verily, verily, I say unto you, the one who hears my words and believes on the One that has sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned.”
3. John 3:36 – “He that believes on the Son has eternal life but he that disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
The Golden Text of the Bible (3:16). “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.”
1. The motivation of God sending His Son was God’s love.
  1. 1 John 4:10 – “In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
  2. Romans 5:8 – “God demonstrates His own love for us in this. . .” God demonstrated, manifested His love for us in that “while we were yet sinners then Jesus died for us.”
2. There is a negative consequence. “The one who believes shall not perish.” To perish means to be separated from God, from the presence of God, and from all that is good.
  1. It means to be lost forever.
  2. It means to be eternally in hell.
3. There is a positive consequence. “They shall have eternal life.” A quality of existence that involves knowing God and the abundant life in Him.
  1. John 17:3, “This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true and living God and your Son whom you have sent.”
  2. John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, that they may have

it to the full.”

Eternal life is the abundant life that Jesus is promising those who believe in Him.

The Express Purpose of Jesus Coming
1. Not to judge the world. “I did not come to judge the world but to save it” (v. 17; 12:47).
  1. Matthew 1:21 – “You shall call His name Jesus for it is He that shall save His people from their sins.”
  2. Luke 19:10 – “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost.”
2. But His very coming was a judgment because men would believe and be saved or they would refuse to believe and be condemned. a. They could love light or they could love darkness.
  1. If they loved light they would come to the light and be saved.
  2. If they loved darkness they would remain lost.
  3. Every man had to make a decision of whether he would love light or love darkness, whether he would come to believe or remain in unbelief.
3. Unbelief in John’s gospel is attributed to a number of things.
  1. They loved darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil (John 3:19).
  2. They did not have the love of God in them (John 5:42).
  3. They sought the praise of men more than the praise of God.
  4. They refused to believe Moses, in whom they trusted.
    - John 5:45-47 – “if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me because he wrote about me but if you did not believe Moses’ writings, how shall you believe my words?”
    - They claimed to trust in Moses. They claimed to be disciples of Moses.

But the fact they did not believe Jesus proved they did not believe Moses.

JOHN THE BAPTIST’S TESTIMONY ABOUT JESUS (3:22-36)

John’s Testimony About Himself
1. The concern of John’s disciples.
  1. Jesus was baptizing more and everyone is going to Him.
  2. John is pleased with this. He says, “A man can only receive what is given to him from above.”
  3. I am the friend of the bridegroom. And I make the arrangements and when the bridegroom comes and receives the bride, then he says, my joy is unspeakable.
2. John’s testimony: “He is here and I have seen Him, and I bear testimony about Him.”
3. John’s statement: “He must become greater, and I must become less important” (v. 30).
John’s Testimony About Jesus
1. The absolute superiority and the uniqueness of Jesus.
  1. He is from above in contrast to himself who was here from this earth.
  2. Jesus testifies to all that He has seen and heard.

1) He has heard the voice of God. “My teaching is not mine but the Father’s that sent me” (7:16; 12:49).

He receives the Spirit without limit. The context shows that he is talking about Jesus, not about every individual, that Jesus is the one that is above all.
Eternal life is in the Him and nowhere else (v. 36; 1 John 5:11-12).

CONCLUSION:

In this verse there are two options. One is you can believe and have eternal life. Remember that life is in the Son and nowhere else. But men may choose not to believe in Him. They may choose to reject the life. And He says in case they do, they will not see life but the wrath of God remains on them.

We have two options: to believe in the Son and to have life; or to refuse to obey Him and to be condemned with the wrath of God upon us. We hope that all of us will make the right decision in this case.

SELF EXAM LESSON FIVE:

What are the two major sections in this chapter?

1)____________________________________________________________

2)____________________________________________________________

What two elements are involved in the New Birth in John three?

1)_____________________________________

2)_____________________________________

What three analogies in the Old Testament are presented by the teacher to show that Nicodemus should have comprehended Jesus’ teaching on the New Birth? 1)____________________________________________________________

2)____________________________________________________________

3)____________________________________________________________

Jesus is like the brass serpent lifted up in the wilderness in what three points?

1)____________________________________________________________

2)____________________________________________________________

3)____________________________________________________________

What does the term “lifted up” signify in the New Testament?_____________ ______________________________________________________________
Unbelief in John’s gospel is attributed to what four things?

1)____________________________________________________________

2)____________________________________________________________

3)____________________________________________________________

4)____________________________________________________________

What was John’s testimony about the absolute superiority and the uniqueness of Jesus?

1)____________________________________________________________

2)____________________________________________________________

3)____________________________________________________________

4)____________________________________________________________

The Book of John Lesson 5

THE NEW BIRTH AND THE WITNESS OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

INTRODUCTION