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Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus[a] 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[b] 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.[c] 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You[d] must be born again.' 8 The wind[e] 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."
So, John Chapter Three starts with a dialogue between a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who is a ruler of the Jews, and Jesus. The first thing that stands out here is the bible expressly says that he visited Jesus by night. Theologians agree this was probably to not allow his peers or anyone else to see that he was going to speak with Jesus. We see that he openly admits that Jesus is a teacher that came from God, yet the Pharisees were openly accusing Jesus of working in concert with the devil and plotting to kill Him. So, why is this important? Well, it speaks to the state of many in the church today. Many know full well that the church they associate with is not correct when it comes to the things of God. They know that much of what they see from discernment ministries is correct, yet they avoid having to confront what is false within their own circle. Instead of standing up to what he knew was wrong, Nicodemus went with the status quo during the day but went to Jesus at night. That is why unprovoked, Jesus lets him know that his religiosity will not save him. His involvement with the false religious norms of the day would not save him. The gospel does not compromise. The old adage come to mind that says sitting in a pew doesn't make you a Christian anymore than sitting in a garage makes you a car. Jesus deconstructs Nicodemus' thinking, just like His gospel deconstructs ours today. We are all born once but must be born again.
That brings us to the second point here. The initial push back from Nicodemus represents our propensity to consider the spiritual in carnal terms. How can a man be born when he is old? We see this today when we try to apply carnal arguments to avoid biblical truth. Just like Jesus said to Nicodemus, He says to all of us today through His word. When Jesus directs something, we should not look for a way around what He has said. If He says that we must turn the other cheek, that is not a suggestion. When He says to welcome the stranger, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, these are not suggestions that we can try to scour the bible for obscure references to dismiss what is plainly said. When the world says to treat people cruelly because of where they were born or what language they speak, we should not be rummaging through the Old Testament to find out of context scriptures about "borders" to make us feel better about the hate that we hear preached from the pulpit by NAR dominionist pastors. I recently reviewed an absolutely horrific and arrogant teaching from Jack Hibbs designed solely to prop up the harsh treatment of migrants in this country by abusing such OT scriptures. Hibbs ignored the clear overwhelming teachings throughout the bible and from Jesus about taking care of the least in society. Making political arguments to deflect spiritual instruction from God. We are not supposed to be of this world, nor should our thinking be. The prophet Amos goes as far as to quote God saying to take away your noisy hymns if you do not treat people justly. The bible presents deeper truths that we can miss if only applying our carnality to them. Far too many who sit in churches across this land are not born of the spirit. The reason why so many are on the broad path and so few find the narrow way is specifically because of this. Matthew 7 warns us of many who will say on the last day Lord Lord. These are absolutely churched people. They had the bells and whistles. They did the performative work. The false signs and lying wonders. The pretense of casting demons out like the seven sons of Sceva before them but at the end of the day they hear born again and their mind quickly asks, how can one be born when already old.
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[f] 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.[g] 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
Now we see Jesus bringing these points home. He asks incredulously, you call yourself a teacher of Israel yet do not understand scriptural truth? How is it that Mike Bickle can sexually abuse women for 50 years, including girls as young as 13 and 14 and not be convicted by the spirit? How can he lie about hearing from God and not realize what he was doing spiritually? Same thing for Robert Morris, Dr. Michael Brown, Ravi Zacharias, Ted Haggard, Carl Lentz and the cavalcade of fallen people who fancied themselves as teachers of the church. Like Nicodemus before them, they had a lofty position in false religion but did not know God nor understand truly His word. Now some might think that these examples are outliers, but they are not. Even those who may not have public scandal, equally do not traffic in understanding or teaching what God is saying. The sad thing with regards to the fallen leaders is that the charismaniacal powers always try to quickly restore them back to ministry. We saw recently the panel empowered by Tikkun in light of the Firefly report on Bickle recommended that he somehow be allowed to do informal ministry! Are you kidding me!
What does it say when the church accepts someone as corrupt as Paula White to head up a fake White House office that pretends Christians are persecuted in this country? You want to experience real persecution? Move to China or the Middle East. Why do we accept the notion that someone like Mike Bickle can be restored when it is plainly obvious he was never saved to begin with? What does it say when we exalt grifters like Sean Feucht who went from a hundred thousand dollars in ministry revenue to five million in one year as he bought nine residences. When we exalt charlatans like Jennifer LeClaire and her sneaky squid, Kris Vallotton and his poverty mindset, Joel Osteen pretending we can speak things into existence, Bill Johnson teaching God always must heal us while wearing prescription glasses, Brian Houston opening up a new online church to fleece the flock after being charged with being blackout drunk, Todd Bentley for goodness sake. Born of the spirit? Not the spirit of God.
15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.[h]16 "For God so loved the world,[i] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."
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