John 3 is perhaps the most popular chapter in the New Testament. It contains the most quoted verse: John 3:16. It advances Christianity’s most important teaching about salvation: “Except a man be born again, he cannot enter the Kingdom of heaven.” It includes some of the most important teachings about the nature of salvation and what one must do to be saved. J.C. Ryle, in his Expository Thoughts on John’s Gospel, notes: “To be ignorant of the matters handled in this chapter, is to be on the broad way that leads to destruction.”
With these thoughts in mind, we undertake to examine some of the thoughts and ideas of this great chapter with the hope that some who are religious may understand the true nature of salvation and come to Christ. First, I ask that, as we examine this passage, you do so with an open Bible. Read John 3 over and over. While these thoughts may help you to understand the nature of salvation, it is God’s Word alone that one must trust, never the words of man. Second, I ask that you are honest with yourself about what you are reading. Does your experience indicate that you have truly been born again or that you are merely following the outward rituals of empty religious practices?
The first thing we notice in the chapter is that Jesus confronts a man with “empty religion.” If you were to survey the world today, one thing you would have to agree on is that the world is full of religions all requiring much and offering little. In every case, these religions are saying “Do, do, do and you might be accepted by God.”
In Nicodemus, Jesus confronts just such a man. He is identified as a Pharisee, but not just any ordinary Pharisee. He was a “ruler of the Sanhedrin.” We learn later that this man is not just a member of the ruling religious body; he is also a teacher.
The Pharisees were a very religious group in Israel that bitterly opposed Jesus during His time on earth. Religiously, they were very active. They attended synagogue more than required by law; they gave alms and offerings to the poor; they prayed and fasted regularly; they kept the law meticulously. They believed that God would accept them because they kept His commands and treated people right. If anyone deserved heaven, they did.
To the Pharisee, salvation was granted to those who kept all God’s commands. They were a group that believed that their own works could earn them salvation. So concerned were they about keeping all God’s laws that they set up additional laws more restrictive than God’s laws. These laws ranged from the ridiculous to the absurd. William Hendriksen noted that a woman was not allowed to look in the mirror on the Sabbath day lest she see a gray hair and be tempted to pull it out and thus “work” on the Sabbath. They also taught that you could not eat an egg laid on the Sabbath unless you killed the chicken who did the work!
Nicodemus belonged to that group–but why was he coming to Jesus. Had he begun to see the emptiness of His own religious practices? Had he begun to question the silliness of some of the very things he had taught? Was he beginning to see that his formal religion did not measure up to the teachings of this man called Jesus? In short, Nicodemus has begun to examine his own religion and realizes it is empty.
Throughout the world, man is very religious. Whether he is worshipping a volcano or spinning a prayer wheel or saying a prayer or talking to a “guide,” man has been ingenious in his religious attempts to reach God. Yet those very religions are often the greatest barrier to one coming to Jesus. Like Nicodemus before us, we fear that someone in our group might know that we are considering something else even though our own religion is very empty. With these in mind, Nicodemus comes to Jesus secretly, under the cover of night.
Peter Jefferies warns of the great danger of “empty, man-made religions:”
Of all man’s creations nothing is so vile and evil as man-made religion. Whether it be Phariseeism, Hinduism, Islam or the many distortions of Christianity, the result of man-made religion is always to reduce God to our size, to make God manageable. And it is always a salvation by works religion. Consequently it takes men away from God. It leaves men and women with no Savior and no answer to their sin and guilt.
The nonsense of Phariseeism is clear to see, but do we see how equally ridiculous is much of man-distorted Christianity? For instance, does the sprinkling of a few drops of water on a baby’s head really make it a Christian? Does going to church now and again, or even every week make a sinner right with God? Isn’t that as ridiculous as the Pharisees’ gray hair and egg?
Man-made religions always leave us with no hope or certainty. As long as your salvation depends on you to any degree, how can you ever be sure? Biblical Christianity provides the only answer–it looks to Jesus alone for the solution.
Nicodemus had his fill of formal religion and it left him empty. He hears of Jesus and he sees a difference. He cannot understand the difference but he knows that this Jesus is different.
The starting place for salvation is to come to Jesus. It is to examine Him, His life, His teachings, His death and resurrection, His claims about Himself. Most who desire to “cross Jesus off their list of options” have never really considered Jesus. Have you? Nicodemus knew he was empty and he decided to go directly to the source–he went to check out Jesus. Will you? Will you read what the Bible says of this man and evaluate Him honestly?
Copyright Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International
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