Congratulations you’ve made it to day 3 and we are looking at that famous chapter 3 of John’s Gospel. Nicodemus is introduced early in this chapter as a man of position, power, prestige and possessions; he was an important man, possibly a ruler of the Jews, a member of the Sanhedrin, a leading official or a high ranking leader. He apparently was wealthy because he spend a great deal of money on the burial of Jesus (note John 19:39ff) after being silent at the trail of Jesus, saying nothing to defend Jesus, but boldly stepping forward after the Lord’s death.
Nicodemus came to Jesus at night apparently fearful of what others would say who opposed Jesus to asked Jesus if he was really who he claimed to be the Messiah. Here’s what I love about Jesus, He saw through what Nicodemus WANTED to know and saw what he NEEDED to know. Jesus saw through the position, power, prestige and possessions and saw what was important was for Nicodemus to be changed: changed spiritually, changed within and changed completely – to undergo such a spiritual change that it could only be described as “being born again.”
Why was this so important? Because Jesus said in John 3:5 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Three time in this short chapter Jesus said “you must be born again,” verses 3, 5 & 7. The word “must” (dei) means absolute necessity, an imperative.
Let me stop here and invite you to pray this prayer with me “Lord Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. I believe that you died on the cross on Friday & rose from the grave Sunday for my sins. Please forgive my sins and give me the gift of eternal life. I ask you in to my life and my heart to be my personal Lord and Savior. I pledge the rest of my day to learn what it means to be your child. In Your Name I pray. Amen!
If you sincerely prayed that prayer, let me be the first to congratulate you on being saved.
John 3:16-17 says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
Let me share one more very important passage in this chapter that sometimes gets over looked. John the Baptist has been ministering preparing the way for Jesus, calling people to repentance and baptizing. People began to flock from John to Jesus. This decline in John’s popularity offered John’s haters an opportunity to attack John but I love how John stood strong knowing who he was and what he was called to do. John share a very insightful thought verse 30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.” During the next 19 days this is God desire for each of us to declare, decree and demonstrate to allow Jesus to increase as we decrease. So let get to it!
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