I’m Just Like Nicodemus

Through Nicodemus’ conversation with Jesus we learn that salvation is more than just religion.

Nick’s Position, A Sinner’s Anxiety

John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 The same came to Jesus by night and said unto Him, “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no man can do these miracles that thou do, unless God be with him.”

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, “a ruler of the Jews.” This is a formidable man in the religious system of Israel, the teacher of Israel. He was one of those in John 2:23.

When you have reached the pinnacle of your religion and it does not deliver the peace and assurance that you’re going to heaven, you get worried, if you are paying attention.

Nick, as a Pharisee, the only one on record in coming to Jesus, was devout; and on many levels had achieved external virtue. He believed all “the right stuff,” but he sensed something was missing, and he sought Jesus to find out more.

He took religion to its apex. He pursued religion to its highest level, its noblest level. He was the guy who tithed even the tiny little herbs, but his heart was full of fear.

So he comes to Jesus as a worried sinner, seeking relief and peace.

The Savior’s Procedure
Religion Can’t Get You There

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, “Verily, verily I say unto thee, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus does not ask a question, he makes a declaration. He makes a confession. Jesus spoke to the issue of what Nick was thinking, because He knows man.

John 2:24 But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men.

Jesus knew exactly what Nick was there for, so He got to the point. You and I can’t fool Jesus with nonsense. He knows what is going on with us.

Nick knew he was not in the kingdom. He was not in the special realm of the redeemed—those who are saved from judgment, reconciled to God in relation to Him forever, and headed for resurrection and life in heaven.

Jesus said, “You’re not going to be in that kingdom unless you are born again.”

The reality was, Nick was very religious. He was a Pharisee who had kept all the external rules and rituals, but Jesus reminds him that religion in any form, to any degree, is completely useless in getting anyone to heaven.

The Spirit’s Performance
He Does It For You

John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Verily, verily I say unto thee, unless a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.”

Jesus says you must be recreated, but you cannot do that through religion or human effort. Just as you did not give yourself physical birth, you cannot produce a spiritual birth.

John1:13 Who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

This spiritual birth is not something we inherit through our bloodline, It is not something we get because we want it passionately enough, behave well enough, or that is acquired by some human devised religious scheme. It is a birth from God above.

Jesus obliterates all the sinner’s safety in traditionalism, formalism, ceremonialism, legalism, and ritualism, and points the barbed arrow of spiritual truth at the vital point. You have to discount all of that; you need to be born again.

Jesus had great respect for the Law, He was the Author of it, and He fulfilled the Law, but He knew the Law could not save anyone. The one great need that every sinner has, can never be met through religion, or through any humans means.

Nicodemus did not need more laws, more rules, more services, more sacrifices, more prayers, more candles; he needed to become a new creation. Only God can do that. And that is every sinner’s need.

All of us are like Nicodemus. If we even think about God, salvation, or heaven, most still think it is “up to us to live good enough so that God will accept us.” That is religion, man doing “good enough” so that God will accept him. Jesus said we cannot recreate ourselves by our own hand, our religious stuff, to be good enough.