Must I Be Born Again? Part 1
Message 7
Our text today starts in John 3:1. But there is actually a flow of thought here from the "many" at the end of Chapter 2 who had only superficial belief, to the one "Nicodemus" who had a genuine yearning to know God. In the New Living Translation (NLT), you can see the section heading titled, "Jesus and Nicodemus" is actually above John 2:23 because that is where this all begins. I think it is important we review that because it puts on display exactly what we're talking about in this message.
In John 2, verses 23-25, we clearly see this contrast.
John 2:23–25 (NLT)
23 Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him.
24 But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew all about people.
25 No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart.
Jesus knew that the people's acknowledgement that he was "something special" was ultimately meaningless. It was an acknowledgement in their mind, but it was not genuine faith in their heart.
And then, from that, we begin the contrast.
It's a contrast between those people who had only a shallow acknowledgement of Jesus
And the One Person who had a genuine desire in his heart to truly know who Jesus was.
His name was Nicodemus, and we meet him in John Chapter 3.
(Complete transcript to come.)
In John 2, verses 23-25, we clearly see this contrast.
John 2:23–25 (NLT)
23 Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him.
24 But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew all about people.
25 No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart.
Jesus knew that the people's acknowledgement that he was "something special" was ultimately meaningless. It was an acknowledgement in their mind, but it was not genuine faith in their heart.
And then, from that, we begin the contrast.
It's a contrast between those people who had only a shallow acknowledgement of Jesus
And the One Person who had a genuine desire in his heart to truly know who Jesus was.
His name was Nicodemus, and we meet him in John Chapter 3.
(Complete transcript to come.)