Greg Laurie - Jesus and the Moral Man

TOPICS: Morality

So just imagine for a moment, if you will, if you could have a personal appointment with Jesus, just you and the Lord hanging out maybe over a cup of coffee, you could ask him any question, no topic was off limits, just you and Jesus. A younger person might have some different questions than an older person might. A younger person might ask about their identity or their purpose in life or what course their life would take, an older person might ask questions about the afterlife or their mortality.

Studies have shown that’s what people think about as they get older. In fact, it’s what they ought to be thinking about as they get older, and we have a similar situation in the story before us. We have an elderly gentleman thinking about his mortality, realizing he may not have that much longer to live, and he comes to Jesus, and the name of this man is known to most of us, his name was Nicodemus. Nicodemus was effectively a household name. He was known to be a great spiritual leader. He was an intellectual. He was a deeply moral man, obviously a very religious man and a leader of the highest order, and now he encounters a humble, a completely uneducated or comparatively uneducated poor carpenter from Nazareth.

So, here we have the intellectual elite with a man that was controversial, but it really wasn’t a rabbi and a carpenter, this is effectively a conversation between God and man. And we could not nominate a better representative than Nicodemus. He was sort of the finest of humanity, sort of speaking on our behalf. And so, Jesus unfolds the mysteries of life to Nicodemus, and Christ also utters probably the best known Bible verse of all time, John 3:16. But before this conversation begins to unfold in John 3, we have what happened before it in John chapter 2, verse 23. Look at that with me. «Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust him».

Okay, that sounds good. Maybe your translation says many believed in him, but then this, «But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew all people. No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each human heart». Wow, powerful statement. Many trusted in him but effectively he didn’t trust in them. Many believed in him, but he didn’t believe in them, why? Because their faith was superficial. It was based on the spectacular, on miracles that they had seen, it wasn’t a genuine and real faith. When someone is really seeking God, the Lord will reveal himself to them, but if you’re not a true seeker, God won’t reveal himself to you.

Now, in contrast to this, we come to chapter 3, «But there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus». Now, when the Bible was originally written, there were not chapters and verses. Jesus did not begin a statement with, «Chapter 1, verse 1». We added that later so we could find our way around in our Bibles, so this is a flow of thought. So, these people believed in him, but he didn’t believe in them, but there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus. So, in contrast here’s a true seeker. Let’s look at it, John 3, we read that «There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night».

You might underline that, we’ll come back to it. He 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.' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.' Nicodemus said to him, 'But how can a man be born when he’s old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born? ' Jesus answered, 'Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don’t marvel that I have said to you, „You must be born again“.

The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it but cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes. So is everyone born of the Spirit.' Nicodemus answered and said to him, 'How can these things be? ' Jesus answered and said, 'Are you the teacher of Israel and you don’t know these things? '» We’ll stop there. So, here’s Nicodemus, a man who was hungry for real truth. He had everything one would want in life, but something was missing. You know, as long as we think our dream is gonna be realized, we may press on in life. We set certain goals, I’m gonna go to school, I’m gonna go to college, I’m gonna get that degree, I’m gonna get that good job, I’m hopefully gonna get, you know, promoted in my job and then I’m gonna get married and then we’ll have kids.

These are all goals that we set, and maybe we meet those goals, and after we’ve been married for, you know, 15 years, we say, «I don’t know, maybe I’ll marry somebody else,» and so we trade our spouses in. And then with the kids you say, you know, I enjoy having kids, but are they ever gonna leave the house? They’re all in their 50s now. And so, you know, we just keep thinking when I get to this certain place, then I’m gonna be happy, and then you get to that place, and you’re still not happy. Here’s something that’s true of every person, I don’t care if they’re young or old, famous, infamous, or completely unknown. Doesn’t matter if they’re a man or a woman, everyone deep down inside is empty, and why are they empty? Because effectively God created us with a void in our life that can only be filled with him.

The Bible says he made the creation subject to emptiness. So, you’ll try to fill that void with so many things, relationships, sexual experiences, drugs, alcohol, accomplishments, possessions, the list goes on, but you’ll only find the satisfaction you seek in a relationship with God. Number one, everyone’s empty. Number two, everyone’s lonely. You may have a lot of friends, you may be at a party with people all around you and a deep sense of loneliness just sweeps over you. That’s a loneliness for God. Thirdly, everyone is guilty. We feel guilt. We try to mask it, we try to pretend it’s not there, but it is there, and you know why you feel guilty? Because you’re guilty, because you’re a sinner, I’m a sinner. We’ve all broken God’s commandments. And lastly, everyone is afraid to die.

I know we’ll show great bravado and laugh at it. No, deep down inside, when you’re laying your head on the pillow, you think of your mortality and people are afraid to die. Well, the gospel answers all of those issues. So, coming back to Nicodemus, here he is, powerful, rich, famous, people went to him for answers, but he had questions, so he comes to Jesus. And verse 1 says he was a Pharisee. Now, the Pharisees and the Sadducees were the two main religious groups of the day. They didn’t agree on much. The only thing the Pharisees and Sadducees seemed to agree on was their hatred of Jesus because he was bad for business and he blew their cover and exposed their hypocrisy. But the Pharisees believed in an afterlife and an eternal reward and the Sadducees did not.

The Sadducees believed that when you died, you simply cease to exist, which is a pretty bleak outlook on life. Maybe that’s how they got their name, Sadducee, they were sad, you see, right? And we usually think of the Pharisees in a negative light, and understandably so because Christ saved his most scathing words for these religious leaders, but they weren’t all bad. In fact, Nicodemus was a good Pharisee, he was looking for truth. But they were a select group, never numbering more than 6,000, and each had taken a solemn vow before three witnesses that they would dedicate their entire life to the keeping of the commandments of God. But they weren’t satisfied with the Scripture alone, so there was another group called the scribes that came up with a whole 'nother book, very thick, called the Mishnah.

It had 24 chapters alone dedicated to how to keep the Sabbath. And in addition to the Mishnah, the scribes wrote a commentary on the Mishnah called the Talmud. So, they have all of these books and all of these rules and all of these regulations, and they felt if we do all of these things, we will be pleasing to God. They also would put on displays of piety and religiousness. When they would pray, they would pray loudly on a street corner. You remember the story that Jesus told of a Pharisee and a publican that went into the temple to pray, and the Pharisee said, «God, I thank you I’m not like other men. I fast, I tithe, and I’m not like this publican over here,» and the publican, who is a tax collector, just said, «God, be merciful to me, a sinner». But that’s typical Pharisetical behavior, «I’m so awesome, I’m better than everybody else,» but you know we can be like Pharisees, too.

We can do things for theater. We can do things to make people think we’re more spiritual than we really are. I mean, they had all of their extra volumes to the Bible, we can have all of our commentaries that we carry with us to church, commentaries, really big Bible, our Bible’s bigger than anyone’s Bible. And we take pictures of ourselves doing devotions with our Bible and all of our commentaries in front of us, and we’re, wow, look at me, you know? And we’re learning a few Greek words now and we use them all the time even when we don’t need to. You don’t need to use Greek when you’re ordering it at In-N-Out Burger, but you do it anyway. You just do things that cause people to think you’re more spiritual than you really are.

Here’s the bottom line, if you’re a really spiritual person, you won’t be a show off, you’ll be more humble. You wanna search yourself and say look how great and awesome I am, you’ll do the very opposite. After years of walking with God, the Apostle Paul himself said, hey, it’s not that I’ve already attained, but I press on toward the mark for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ. Loose paraphrase, hey, I’ve got a long ways to go. But that’s the way the Pharisees rolled, and they thought that they were better than anyone else. So, along comes Nicodemus. Now, he’s one of the primary leaders. He’s identified as a ruler. There was a ruler among the Pharisees.

So, now we have the Pharisees that are an elite group, now we have the Sanhedrin that rules over the Pharisees, and Nicodemus was on the top of the heap. He was the GOAT, right? Someone called me the GOAT the other day, I was really complimented. Hey, GOAT, they said, old goat, get out of the way, that’s it’s. Wait, how did you mean that exactly? I was offended. I just moved, you know, very quickly, as quickly as an old goat can move, actually. I was talking to some Gen Z kids and they told me about the term rizz, he had rizz, right? It means he had charisma. Well, he did. He was the man that others went to for advice, and so he comes to Jesus and we look at this now in three ways this conversation goes.

Number one, they had a conversation face to face. Face to face, verses 2 to 3, mind to mind, verses 4 to 8, and finally heart to heart, verses 9 to 21. So, here’s point number one, Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, but at least he came. He came to Jesus by night, but at least he came. So, it was Nic at night. I want to get that joke out of the way. It’s a dated joke because there is no Nick At Nite anymore, is there? So, people who are older go, yeah, I remember that. Okay, so he comes at night, now why, why did Nicodemus come at night? Well, the obvious reason would have been he’s Nicodemus, everyone knows him, he’s the guy that’s supposed to have the answers. He didn’t want to be seen talking to Jesus, that could be the reason.

Another reason could be that, well, Jesus was a busy guy and to the point so was Nicodemus. Excuse me, Jesus, every day was filled with activities, he was raising the dead, he was healing the sick, he was giving the greatest teachings ever given, teaching them parables so much, and at the end of the day he would be exhausted, but. Nicodemus did not want a moment with the Lord, he wanted a conversation with Christ. He effectively wanted an interview, and so he came at night.

Point number two, better to have a weak beginning and a strong finish than the opposite. So, Nicodemus didn’t have the strongest beginning. He kinda comes under the cover of night, has this conversation with Christ, but in the end he came through for Jesus. In the end, Nicodemus, along with a man named Joseph, excuse me, of Arimathea, came and claimed the body of Christ publicly. That was a very unpopular and even dangerous thing for the two of them to do, but it’s even said Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night came with Joseph of Arimathea to take the dead body of Christ and bury it.

So, there’s some people that have a strong beginning but they have a bad ending, and the Christian life is compared to a race on more than one occasion. And the key of this race that we’re running is not only to win to the best of our ability, but it’s to finish it well. The apostle Paul said, «I wanna finish my race with joy». Then he wrote to Timothy, «I fought the good fight, I kept the faith, I finished the course, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will give to me in that day, and not to me only but to all who love his appearing,» so finishing well. Maybe Nicodemus had a strong, I mean, a weak beginning, but he had a strong finish.

Consider this, Judas Iscariot was an apostle in good standing while old Nicodemus was groping his way in, but in the end of our Lord’s ministry, Judas betrayed Christ and Nicodemus came through with flying colors. Now, Nicodemus has a lot of respect for Jesus. This is shown by what he says in verse 2, «Rabbi, we know that you’re a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him». That’s amazing because Nicodemus was the rabbi’s rabbi, and he comes to Jesus and calls him Rabbi. «Rabbi, we know that you’re come from God,» and Nicodemus being a student of the Bible probably read what Daniel said in chapter 9. Daniel spoke of the Messiah arriving and actually gave a very exact timetable. And if Nicodemus took the time to look at that timetable, he would have discovered Messiah should be alive at that very moment, but then Daniel goes on to say, «But the Messiah will then be cut off».

In other words, the Messiah was going to die, so Nicodemus is thinking I’m getting old, Messiah is here, he could die at any time, I’ve got to find him. Could Jesus be this Messiah? And I think Nicodemus thought Jesus was the Messiah, but he just wanted more information, he wanted more evidence, if you will. He was a man that was searching for God, and I think all around us there are people that are searching for God today, they’re just waiting for someone like you to tell them how to find him. God in his wisdom has chosen to reach people that do not believe through people who do believe, through the proclamation of the gospel. How can I understand this unless someone shows me the way? That was Nicodemus. He wants to know how, how do you do this, what do I do?

And so, here he comes to Jesus and this conversation begins and Jesus tells him you must be born again. 2 Corinthians 5 sums it up perfectly, «If any man be in Christ, he is an altogether different kind of person. Old things have passed away, behold, everything becomes fresh and new». Jesus says you must be born again. It means born from above. You must experience a spiritual rebirth, Nicodemus. All of your rules and your regulations and reading the Mishnah and the Talmud and all the rest of it hasn’t got you any closer to God. You need to be born all over again. Nicodemus is like, you mean go back into my mother’s womb? No, I don’t mean that, it’s a metaphor, buddy. It’s a picture of what will happen to you spiritually.

Bringing me to point number three, God loves you. Oh, I know it seems like a cliche but it’s absolutely true. Some people picture God as a cosmic killjoy out to ruin their lives, but the reality is God loves you and has a plan for your life and he longs for a relationship with you. Now, the pagan gods of this time were so different. They would show favor to certain individuals or groups, but their favor was based on sacrifices or offerings or somehow being appeased. There was no concept of a loving deity wanting a relationship with mankind. So, Jesus comes along, speaking of the true and living God, «For God so loved the world,» and God proved his love by sending his Son. «God so loved the world he gave his only begotten Son».

You know, we can talk about love all day long, but God demonstrated his love for us in a tangible way. Jesus said, «Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends,» and Christ laid his life down for each of us. God demonstrated his love toward us, the Bible says, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, and God’s love is unconditional. There’s nothing you can do to earn it. I think somehow we think, well, I have to earn God’s love. No, God loves you already. He loves you as you are. Now, that doesn’t mean he approves of all the things you say and do, but you need to know that he loves you unconditionally. He loves you all the time.

Now, some extreme Calvinists would say God’s love is only for the elect. God only loves the elect. They believe in something called limited atonement, which means Jesus died only for the elect, and who are the elect? These are the people that were chosen before they were even born, and some even believe in what you would call double predestination, which means God not only chooses some people to go to heaven, he also chooses others to go to hell. I reject this view completely. I reject it completely. There’s no limited atonement. The blood of Jesus was shed for all people and anyone can believe. «For God so love the world he gave His only begotten Son».

I love the words of the great evangelist D.L. Moody, who once said, «Lord, save the elect and then elect some more,» right? Now, God’s love is for everybody, and it’s universal. He loves all people. The Bible says, «Whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved». Jesus said, «He that would come to me, I would in no way cast out». And God’s gift of salvation is available for everyone who believes, everyone who believes. «Whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life».

What a beautiful message. God loves me, God will forgive me, God will change me from the inside out. Why would anyone reject this message? Some would say, well, you know, they reject it because there’s too many hypocrites in the church. Give me a break. Can you imagine the apostles saying, hey, Judas was a hypocrite, I’m walking away from Jesus. It’d be like, hey, Jesus didn’t let us down, Judas did. Just because people fall short it’s not a reflection on Christ himself, though I’m sorry it happens, but here’s the thing, people don’t say no to Jesus because there’s too many hypocrites in the church, nor do people say no to Jesus because of the problem of human suffering.

Well, the reason I’m not a Christian is I just deal with human suffering and I can’t wrap my mind around the idea that a loving God would allow so much tragedy in the world. That’s a real issue, it’s something to think about, but that’s not why you are not a Christian. You wanna know why a person is not a Christian? Jesus gives us the answer right here in John 3, verse 19. «This is a condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil». Listen, «Everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed. But he that does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen if they have been done in God». So, why do people really not believe? «Everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light».

So, really it’s not an intellectual issue, it’s a spiritual and moral issue. We don’t wanna change because the powerful light of Jesus Christ shines into our life and it exposes things that we don’t want exposed. And so, that’s why we don’t come to the light. That’s why we say no to Jesus. This is an either-or proposition. You accept it and you reject it, and it’s for every person. In fact, your name is here in the text, really? Oh, yeah, your name’s right there. «Whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life». That’s you, whosoever. If you will believe, you will be forgiven. There are other whosoevers in the Bible. Revelation 20:15 says, «Whoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire». Listen, if you’re included in the whosoever of John 3:16, you won’t be included in the whosoever of Revelation 20:15.