John 3:1-15 English Standard Version

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

At the time of this conversation,Jesus had not been crucified, buried, resurrected and ascended to His Throne. At this time Jesus invokes the Son of Man title from Daniel 7:13. The Jewish legal council called the Sanhedrin rejected Jesus for invoking this title. Jesus had not yet proven He is the Son of Man and that the everlasting kingdom is His Kingdom. What followed this conversation is the most remembered and often quoted scripture. 

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

So all you have to do is believe but we must look to John 3:15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Jesus did not say will, He said may. So why can’t we simply believe?

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

We must believe by faith to be born again. Can we do that?

John 14:23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

What other scriptures say that God will come to man?

Genesis 3:8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

God came to Adam and Eve before the fall. They did not have to seek God, He came looking for them every day. Place these scriptures in context and we can see that if anyone loves Jesus and keeps His Word, God will again come to man and restore the relationship they had before the fall.

So how do we fall in love with Jesus? 

Ephesians 1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,

You cannot love someone you do not know.

1 Corinthians 2:2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

1 Corinthians 2:11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

To know Him we must hear from the Spirit of God. How can we hear Him?

John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,

John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

John 15:26 But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

So to hear the “good news” we need more information about what it takes to get Jesus to send us the Holy Spirit. Nothing is as simple as  just hearing there is good news.

Colossians 1:27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.