How To Become A Believing Believer

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. INTRODUCTION At the end of John 2, John described a large group of people who “believed in [Jesus’] name” because they witnessed Him perform miraculous signs. Instead of being good news, however, John lets his readers know that their belief wasn’t genuine. It was unbelieving belief. John tells us that Jesus knew their true (unbelieving) hearts and for that reason, “Jesus…did not entrust himself to them.” We covered all of that in last week’s sermon. In our passage for this week, John recounts the particular story of one of the unbelieving believers. That is, what John stated in principle in 2:23-25, he gave an example of in 3:1-15. In the man, Nicodemus, and his interaction with Jesus, we are given a picture of what unbelieving belief looks like in real life. And in the story of Nicodemus, John provides us with a few signs of unbelieving belief as well as the means to overcome it. Signs of unbelieving belief include coming to Jesus in secret, coming to Jesus merely because of His signs, and leaving Jesus more confused and discouraged. And the means by which God has given for His people to become genuine believers is new spiritual birth. New birth is needed to see and enter the kingdom of God, it comes from the Spirit, there is mystery in it, and it means that the kingdom of God is already and not yet. Let’s pray that God would grant the unbelieving believers among us the ability to recognize the signs of unbelieving belief in order that they may turn from it to believing belief. And let’s pray that God would help us to see the manner in which unbelief and unbelieving belief alike are transformed into genuine, saving belief. SIGNS OF AN UNBELIEVING BELIEVER Again, this is a story intended to help us see what the unbelieving belief of 2:23-25 looks like and how to overcome it. First, what it looks like… 1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The unbelieving believer was named Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee. This means two main things for our purposes. First, it means that he was well trained in the Word of God and held a position of power and influence over the children of Abraha