The Marks of False and True Belief: Part 3

Well, good morning. Open your Bibles to John chapter 3, please. John chapter 3. John chapter 3, as we're moving along with this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, we find ourselves in verses 9 through 15, but we'll read the entire conversation just for context. and then we will go to our Lord in prayer. So John chapter 3, or actually John chapter 2, verse 23.

Now, when Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus, on his part, did not entrust himself to them because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. John chapter 3, verse 1. Now, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus.

He was a ruler of the Jews. 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. Jesus answered him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 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? And Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. So do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. 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. Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be? Jesus answered him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and we bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you of earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you of heavenly things?

No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

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. 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. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and the people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil.

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 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. Let us pray to our God. Oh God, we thank you for this teaching, for this testimony, this witness of what true life, what salvation is.

God in heaven, as we see Nicodemus caught in his false belief, I pray God that we'd be people of true belief, that we'd believe in the testimony that we would, Lord, be born again and enjoy the fruits of the rebirth in Christ. Oh God in heaven, for those before me who have never been born again, have never experienced that, may you use even this time to cause them to be born again. And for those who have received the second birth, for those who are part of the church of Christ, may they be reminded of the beautiful fruit that comes forth from the rebirth that Christ has done in us, that we would, Father, go from a failure to believe to believe in fully and trust in ourself truly to the work of Jesus Christ and finding our hope and joy in life and that.

And so, Lord, teach us these things, we ask. Send your Spirit to help us in our time of need. And may the word declared now be of use to those before me so that Christ would be glorified and be for their good. We praise you and thank you in the powerful work of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. So before I left my home state of Michigan to go into full-time ministry, I had a job with Comcast Cable.

And with Comcast, I was a cable guy. I did installations and troubleshooting and everything. I actually really loved the job. It was great. Always in different places, different locations, having to use your mind and everything. But I was there for a few years, for three or four years.

And so at the beginning of that, you had a few months of training, a few months at their training center close to Detroit, and they trained you for a little while. And I remember one of those times during lunch break, we were in the break room. There were several of us in the training class. And somehow in the lunch room, we got talking about religion, and it got kind of heated. and I remember this man just thought it was absurd to believe in something that is heaven and hell believe in something that you've never been to never actually experienced, never been there and he just thought it was the stupidest thing for someone to actually fully believe in this thing, this fairy tale he would call it, of heaven and hell and I remember asking him I said, have you ever been to the Horn of Africa? because who's ever been to the Horn of Africa? and he said, no, I've never been there I was like, so then by your own logic you shouldn't believe that either then should you but you do believe there's a horn of Africa don't you and he said of course I do that's ridiculous not to I was like yeah you're right it ridiculous not to because there been proper testimony or proper witness to say the horn of Africa exists Books and people you can talk to you have testimony and witnesses to it and so you believe it because you believe in the testimony And I said, I believe that the Word of God, the Bible, is a greater witness, a greater testimony to the things of truth.

And it teaches that heaven is real and hell is real, so I think it is perfectly logical and it should be done to believe in a heaven and hell. I believe in the testimony. And the reason why I bring that up now is because Jesus, after talking about the first step from false belief to true belief, with Nicodemus, who's a false believer, as we've seen, after talking about that first step of being born again, right?

In order to be a true believer, you must be born again. That's the first step, to be changed from above, completely changed, your nature changed from sin to Christ. And then with Nicodemus, you remember where we are now in verse 9, saying, how can this be? Jesus then goes into this conversation about believing in proper or true testimony about proper and true witness that is because believing in proper and true witness is vital in order to receive the new birth and and that is to say that the new birth is the first step of belief but it's not like God says okay I'm going to have you be born again you be born again you and then all of a sudden it's just random it happens through means and the means that happens through is the proper or true testimony is proclaimed the person hears it and God works in them a miraculous work of new birth of believing upon the testimony and then having true belief but it doesn't come without testimony and so Jesus here dealing with a false believer dealing with someone Nicodemus with false belief he then goes from how can this be true and Jesus gets to what he needs to get to with Nicodemus.

He talks about believing or the false believing of true testimony. So what we have this morning is a teaching of true testimony. And we also see in Nicodemus the teaching of what false belief looks like with that testimony. And we'll see what true belief looks like as well. So again, look at verse 9. He says, Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be?

How can you tell me right now that in order for me to be truly saved, it's a divine, powerful work of God and not one of man. Remember we talked about Nicodemus would have been used to that. It is a work that man must do in order to be close to God. And Jesus is flipping it on its head and saying, no, it's a work that God must powerfully work in you for you to enjoy life or closeness with him.

And Nicodemus cannot believe that. He's a false believer. He cannot even believe that this would be the case. And so Jesus, moving on from verse 9, goes into true testimony in order to undergird this doctrine of rebirth. He says in verse 10, Jesus answered him, are you the teacher of Israel? And yet you do not understand these things.

You see what Jesus is saying here is you are a Pharisee as Nicodemus was, and a Pharisee taught the Old Testament scriptures along the prophets. That's what they did. They were master teachers. They knew it well and they taught it. He did that as a living. And he's saying, Jesus is saying that these things I'm talking about with new birth, you're a teacher of Israel, you know the law and the prophets, yet you do not understand new birth.

And so what Jesus is saying is that through your teaching of the Old Testament, through your teaching of the law and the prophets, you should know about what it means to be truly saved, to need the new birth. It's in the Old Testament. And so what Jesus is teaching about true testimony is it's found in the Old Testament. It's found in the Law and the Prophets.

That is true testimony. It's found in the Scriptures. And he's saying that you're a teacher of Israel, you're a teacher of this book, but yet you do not understand salvation. You do not understand the need for rebirth. You do not understand the power of God. You see, the Old Testament, the Law and the Prophets, and the Scripture as a whole, It has a common testimony.

It has a common witness. It has a center witness. And that center, the central witness of the Old Testament, of the law and the prophets, is who God is. It witnesses to who God is. It witnesses to who you are as a person, as a man, as a woman. And it witnesses to what you need, and that is salvation from God.

That God is perfectly righteous and holy, and that law reveals that in the law and the prophets. The prophets declared that, hey, guess what? You're a sinner and you cannot do it. There's nothing you can do to be right with God. But then the prophets also declared the hope. The law also declares the hope or the promises that there's one to come who will give you the power needed in order to be right with God.

That is the central witness of the Old Testament and the New, by the way, but we'll get there. The Old Testament. And Jesus is saying, you're the teacher of that and you're not understanding that witness? You know, it reminds me of what Timothy says about false believers or teachers in 2 Timothy 3.7. He says, always learning, these false teachers, false believers, but they're never able to arrive at the knowledge of truth.

So they're always learning new facts, facts, facts, facts. Nicodemus had facts everywhere with the scriptures. He knew facts and he taught facts. But he never, with those facts, arrived at the knowledge of truth. And so true testimony is found in the scriptures, but false belief will take those facts about the true testimony and not arrive at the central message or witness of those scriptures.

In fact, to do so, to know the facts of the scriptures yet miss the testimony of scripture of salvation is to be a wearisome and depressing endeavor. In fact, Ecclesiastes 12.12, Solomon says, much study is a weariness to the flesh. That is, to study the scriptures, to study the word of God, yet not arrive at the testimony of salvation the witness of salvation is a wearisome depressing thing And Nicodemus is that false believer He is that person who knows the facts of the scriptures yet has not arrived at the testimony of the scriptures True testimony is found in the Old Testament scriptures.

False belief is to know the facts, yet not understand the testimony. And again, we've said this before, the last couple weeks, we fall into false belief all the time, even those who have been born again. How many times have we been studying scripture again and it becomes very, very monotonous and it becomes cold to our souls? It's because we're getting the facts, but we're not getting the testimony, the salvation, the drink, the new birth, the I'm a sinner, but God is righteous and he provides righteousness.

How many times do we read scriptures are understanding the facts, but yet missing the testimony of those scriptures? This is what Nicodemus' life has been. So when Jesus comes and he proclaims new birth and he says, how can this be? Jesus says, you understand the facts of scripture, but you fail to know the testimony of scripture. True testimony is found in the Old Testament.

False belief is to know the facts of the Old Testament, but yet not come away with the testimony of salvation from it. And going on in verse 11, Jesus goes on to teach more about what true testimony is and even false belief. He says in verse 11, he says, truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know. And we bear witness, we bear testimony to what we have seen.

And so there's another aspect of what true testimony is. Notice how Jesus says, we, we do these things. And a lot of people are like, why does he go to the we randomly? It's kind of weird. I think why he's going to the we is he's saying, you're the teacher of the Old Testament, and yet you do not know these things. And now he's saying, we teach these things, or we know these things, we bear witness to these things.

He's saying, Jesus is saying, I and the law and the prophets. In other words, Jesus isn't coming and teaching some different thing to Nicodemus. It's not like Jesus is saying, yeah, we got the Old Testament thing, but hey, we don't need to worry about that. This is a new thing, different. That's not what it is. He's saying that the testimony is found in the Old Testament, and he's saying we, that is me, my voice with it, we are all saying the same testimony, the same truth, the same salvation.

I remember, that's a very important aspect to know about true testimony, because I remember being in college, at a secular college, and one of the questions, the course was Old Testament studies or it was like a general look at the Old Testament. I remember like halfway through the course, some older lady raises her hand and says, I thought God was a God of like love and stuff. And, you know, because there's a lot of, you know, hey, you're sinners.

I'm going to bring my rat down on you. I remember just a genuine, you know, innocent inquiry. I thought God was a God of love. This is confusing. And the teacher said, I remember saying, oh that's like the Old Testament God you know we're talking about the New Testament God is the God or the Old Testament that's the New Testament God the God of love we're talking about the Old Testament and I'm just like whoa I was a new believer at that point I was a new one but I knew that was whacked out and that is because that the Old Testament God is the same as the New and Jesus is saying that he's saying we he's saying the Old Testament witness the witness that I am bearing it's the same witness it's the same testimony it's the same salvation the same need for rebirth.

Notice what else he says about true testimony in verse 11. He says, 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. You see, this is the way testimony works in the scriptures, is that God has determined to deliver that testimony, that witness of salvation to certain peoples throughout history.

He has chosen, I'm going to give it to these people, and then these people are going to deliver it to the masses, and they are to believe that true testimony. There are certain things about God and who he is that we don't need that kind of special revelation. We know just from creation that God must be beautiful, he must be awesome, he must be worthy of praise.

No one needs to be told that. We all can see that in creation. Creation itself testifies to everyone this truth. But when we see that we are sinners and we need salvation, that special revelation of salvation, the special revealing or the special witness of salvation, God, with true testimony, has delivered it to specific people to then deliver it to the masses, and the masses were to recognize that it was delivered to those people and believe.

Now, what's the problem with that? Well, the Pharisees and the religious leaders had a very good time, had a very good way about them to decide, I'm the authority over that, and I'm not going to believe the authorities that God has placed to deliver these truths. So again, notice how, in verse 11, once more just so we don't lose that he says we speak that is the the law and the prophets what i'm saying we speak of what we know and what we've seen god has revealed it to us thus you are to believe that but nicodemus as a pharisee as a religious leader as religious leaders in judaism as a whole they made a habit of saying no we are the deciders of that not who god has chosen to reveal it and so therefore they persecute and they try to kill the true testimony jesus talks about this in matthew 23 29 through 31 you remember he says woe to you scribes and pharisees hypocrites for you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous saying if we had lived in the days of our fathers we would not have taken part with them and shedding the blood of the prophets so what he's saying is that the pharisees had a really good way of saying man, if those prophets of old would have lived today, we would have believed them.

But yet their fathers in that time, they didn't believe them and they killed them. And what Jesus is saying is, is that if the prophets were to be right now and were to do that, you would kill them again. And so the Pharisees, the religious leaders had a very good way of making a show of believing in true testimony But when true testimony came to them they wanted to squish it They wanted to kill it they wanted to disbelieve it And so this is what Jesus is saying The law and the prophets me joining in their voice, we declare what we have received from God and you do not receive it, he says.

True testimony is found in what Christ says, we'll get more to that, what the law and the prophets said, yet false believers, although they have a show, they refuse to, what he says here now is receive in verse 11. They refuse to receive it. Notice the different words he uses for false belief. In verse 10, he says, underline it in your head at least, you do not understand these things, the Nicodemus, the false believer.

And then notice in verse 11, he adds more flesh to the teaching of false belief when he says you do not receive it. So he's teaching on what it means to have false belief. He's teaching on what it means to take true witness and not understand it. And what he's saying is, is you do not receive it. False belief is a sinful rejection of true testimony. And the reason why it's important to understand is that when you think of you do not understand, you might think it's a passive ignorance, right?

That they just simply, they would if they could just understand, but they are just a victim of ignorance and they just won't do it. But the testimony of scripture is that people fail to believe because they do not understand, because they do not receive, and that is a sinful, a willful rejection of the truth. So it's not so much a passive, I just don't understand, I wish I wasn't a victim of ignorance, but it is an act of not receiving, disbelieving of the truth that is being testified to.

In fact, look at John 12, 48. Jesus speaks more about this there in John 12, 48. He says, the one who, John 12, 48, the one who rejects me and does not receive my words as a judge, the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. And so notice Jesus, the misunderstanding, the not understanding Jesus is found in rejection. It's found in not receiving the word of Jesus.

That is a willful, sinful act of disobedience to not believe upon the testimony God has chosen. I give it to this person and it's a willful rejection of that testimony. Or what we see a lot in the New Testament scriptures is a dark understanding, a darkened mind. Ephesians 4, 17 through 18, Paul talks about this. Now this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do.

You don't act like the Gentiles and they walk in the futility of their minds. Their minds are useless. They're vain. He says they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, but it's due to their hardness of heart. So in other words, their heart is hardened in sin. They have no love for God.

They're dead in their sins. And so therefore, they willfully reject the true testimony to salvation that they need to be saved. And so a false belief, a false believer is not someone who's a victim of ignorance. A false believer is someone who willfully rejects the truth that is given to them by God through the testimony of a witness. Now, of course, you know, some people just don't know.

And you have conversations with people that just don't know anything, and they have a humble heart. They'll ask questions. What do you mean, sin? What is that? What do you mean I'm a lawbreaker? What do you mean by that?

And that's legitimate ignorance, right? What do you mean God is good? I've never experienced anything perfectly good in this creation. What do you mean that there's one who is actually perfectly good. All right, good questions to ask. And if you've ever spoken to someone who God is working in new birth, who God's doing that work, you'll see that they're asked really good questions.

They're on the path to truth. And they'll ask these in ignorance. But then you'll notice that people who have been told the truth, you'll notice a switch that happens in which it's not a matter of just ignorance. It's a matter of, I don't like this truth. And they are willfully rejecting that truth. And it could be a serious problem when someone thinks that, oh no, they're just ignorant, they just need more information.

No, they need to be told to repent of their false belief, to repent of their sin, of a hardened heart, of a darkened understanding, and believe upon Jesus Christ. They need to be told to repent and believe at that point, not simply, well here, let me try to give you more facts. So false belief, as we've seen from Jesus talking to Nicodemus, a false believer, is not just simply not understanding, but it's also not receiving.

It's a moral rejection of the testimony. And so since their hearts are darkened and they do not understand, they have a failure to understand the little things and they'll have a failure to understand the big things. Look at verse 12. Look what Jesus goes on to say. You do not receive our testimony, the testimony of the law of the prophets, the one that I am speaking to as well.

You do not receive it, you reject it, and your sin. And he says in verse 12, if I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? Now, a lot of debate about what he means by earthly and heavenly things, but I think what's clear in the text is that earthly things, he's saying if you don't believe the earthly things, you're not going to believe in the heavenly things.

And I think what Jesus is saying there is that there's things that happen on earth that you can actually see yourself and say, okay, that must be true. And I think what he's referring to is new birth. New birth, someone being born again, they are changed completely. That is invisible. The Holy Spirit comes within them, changes them. But what's not invisible is the way that they act after they've been changed.

And he's saying that if you reject what I'm saying about the new birth, which causes a change in behavior that you can see with your own eyes, and yet you reject the work of God to do that, then you will never... the things in heaven in which you cannot put your eyes on. If you reject the things that happened before you on the earth and say that can't be the case, I'm not believing that testimony, I'm rejecting the testimony of the new birth, what God does in salvation. Jesus is saying then how are you going to accept the things in heaven in which you cannot put your eyes on, Nicodemus?

And so a rejection of the truth will cause you to reject the little things, which will cause you to reject the big things or the overarching things that explain the things that happen on earth. Now, what is he saying exactly? What does he mean about the things are hidden in heaven? I think the earthly things, new birth that you can see the effects of, but he's saying you will reject when we witness to the things in heaven.

What exactly does he mean? What things in heaven that he cannot see is Jesus referring to? I don't think he just means God, who God is. Nicodemus was a card-carrying Pharisee. He believed in God who is in heaven. I think what Jesus is getting at is found in the next verse.

Again, what does he mean by you'll reject the things, the testimony of the things in heaven that you cannot see? What does he mean? Well, he mentions heaven again in verse 13. I think it gives us understanding of what he means here in 12 about the heavenly things. He says in verse 13, no one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the son of man again in verse 13 he's given what he means by what he won't believe that's happening in the heavenlies that he can't see he says no one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven the son of man so i think what the heavenly things is he's referring to is the son of man he's referring to who jesus is jesus standing before nicodemus is the son of man And he's saying, I have came down from heaven to work this grand plan of salvation.

And what Jesus is saying is, if you don't believe in the new birth, and you don't believe in the effects of the new birth that you can see with your own eyes, you're not going to believe the fact that I, Jesus, am the Son of Man who came down from heaven uniquely to anyone else and am true God himself. You're not going to believe that I am, as Son of Man, I came down from heaven. My eternal abode is heaven.

You're not going to believe those deeper realities of salvation that was planned before time began, in which it's manifested in the new birth because of what the Son of Man has came down from heaven to do. If you're not going to believe in the new birth and the effects that you see before your eyes, you're not going to believe who I am as the Son of Man, Son of God, come from heaven, eternally God himself. Colossians 1, 15-17, we know this text very well. that talks about the Son of Man, talks about the Son of God coming down from heaven.

In Colossians 1, 15-17, Paul says, He is, that is Jesus, the Son of Man. Jesus talking to Nicodemus right before him. He is the image of the invisible God. He's the firstborn of all creation. For by Jesus, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things, in him, all things hold together.

And Jesus is saying, if you don't believe in the earthly things, you'll never believe that I am that man right there. I am that deity right there. You'll never believe that testimony. And so what we're being treated to here, what Jesus is teaching about true testimony is not only that it is found in the Old Testament, not only that it's found in the law and the prophets, not only that Jesus joins in that voice of truth saying we, but Jesus is saying I am the full reality of true testimony.

I am the fulfillment. I am everything, Nicodemus. It's all about me. I'm the son of man who came down from heaven and I'll go back to heaven. If you're not going to believe in the effects of that truth in the life of a sinful individual going from death to life, you're not going to believe this overarching testimony that all scriptures, all testimony is pointing to me.

I find this kind of reality here, right, of what Jesus is pointing to, this true testimony being culminated and fulfilled in him. You see that in Revelation 4 and 5. You see that? And let's just take a quick look at that. Revelation 4 and 5. I know what you're thinking.

It's taking you way too long to go through seven verses. How are you going to go through two chapters quickly? But we will, I promise you. Chapter four in Revelation, before we get to all the parts that everyone disagrees with this is John going up into the heavenlies into the invisible right To the place that Jesus says you never believe the things that are going on up there if you don believe in the things that are happening down here with salvation And in chapter 4 of Revelation that whole chapter is all about well let just read the first few verses.

After this, I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, come up here and I'll show you what must take place after this in which Nicodemus would never believe. And what we see here is John goes up to the heavenlies, he sees the throne, and he sees God on his throne. Nicodemus wouldn't have a problem believing that, right?

And we see the worship going on, and look at verse 8, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. This is what the four living creatures are praising and worshiping, this God who's on the throne. And verse 9, and whenever the living See, these are the heavenly things that are going on. Nicodemus wouldn't have had an issue believing in the one true God that exists in heaven. but what Nicodemus would have a hard time believing is what comes in chapter 5 and that is when I saw that is chapter 5 then I saw at the right hand of him who is seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back sealed with seven seals what is this this is a testimony this is truth this is a testimony of the ages right here this is the true witness that Jesus is referring to that you need in order to be born again in order to understand these things he said he says he saw at the right hand of God a scroll written on the front and the back with seven seals.

In other words, not just anyone can open up the scrolls. Not just anyone can open up the testimony. It has to be a certain one. What does he say? No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.

Over time, from the Old Testament through those thousands of years, no one was worthy to be the center of the testimony to be the opener of the testimony for all the testimony to point to this one the law and the prophets bear witness to it but they weren't the testimony itself right but something happens in verse 5 one of the elders said to me weep no more behold the line of tribe of Judah the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and it's seven seals and between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a lamb this is jesus standing as though he had been slain with seven horns with seven eyes which are the seven spirits of god sent it to the all the earth and he went that is jesus and took the scroll from the right hand of of him who was seated on the throne and we had taken the scroll the four living creatures the 24 elders fell down before the lamb each holding a harp golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints and they sang a new song saying worthy are you jesus to take the scroll of testimony and to open its seals. For you were slain, and your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe, language, and people and nation. And you have made them a kingdom and a priest of our God, and they shall reign on earth.

Then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders and the voice of many angels, numbering myriads and myriads and thousands and thousands, saying with a loud voice, all worshiping, Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Son of Man. Worthy is the one who was in heaven and came down and went back up. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power, wealth, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing.

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, and all that has ended up saying to him who sits on the throne, to the Lamb, be blessing, and honor, and glory, and might be forever and ever. And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshiped. This is like time and space all coming together to say, this is him finally.

This is the center of testimony. It is him. It is Jesus, the Son of Man, who came forth from heaven, went down, and went back up. It is him. In fact, Revelation 19.10, the angel says, I am a fellow servant with you. Your brothers hold to the testimony of Jesus.

Worship God. And he says, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So then, with all that, all those things happening in the heavenlies, the things in which we cannot see here on earth Jesus being the center of the testimony the fulfiller of it the opener of it all those things happening and here is Nicodemus afraid to go to Jesus at daytime here is the false believer afraid to go to Jesus in daytime to be seen He is a false believer as revealed in the fact that he was afraid to go to Jesus during the daytime The center of heaven has came down to earth.

The very center and fulfillment of all testimony and Nicodemus in false belief is too embarrassed to approach him in the daylight. The fulfillment of all testimony. And so his false belief, his inability to understand new birth, is revealed in the fact that he did not receive true testimony. This is like a football player being too embarrassed to raise up the trophy after winning the Super Bowl.

How silly would that be? Everything I was pointing to was that trophy, and now you're too embarrassed to lift it up. It makes no sense. And here's Nicodemus, the teacher of the law and the prophets, everything pointing to Jesus, and he's too embarrassed to approach him. no wonder why he said, how can these things be? He denied true testimony. But thankfully for us fallen humanity, because we looked at Nicodemus, it's not like we just throw rocks at him and say, you fool, right?

He's a representative of false belief in general. He is a person in which we can all see our false belief in. We can all see our condition of failing to believe the testimony of God, failing to submit ourselves to whom God has chosen to give that testimony to. We can see ourselves in Nicodemus, especially for those of us who are born again, but yet can remember before that time.

Thankfully, for us fallen humanity, for Nicodemus the false believer, the fulfillment of true witness is not just who Jesus is, but what he did. You notice that in Revelation 5, it was certainly Jesus, the opener of the scroll, the fulfiller, the centerpiece of testimony. But notice what it is couched in. It's couched in what he did for sinners. So thankfully for Nicodemus, thankfully for fallen humanity, thankful for you who do not believe, who have not been born again who has false belief thankfully for us fallen creatures the fulfillment of testimony is not just who jesus is but what he has done for us who do not believe and have new birth and this is what jesus gets to in the next two verses and this is what we're going to focus our time on the next uh and next week that is that the true testimony points to jesus christ who has done the work needed for us to be reborn in God.

And look what he says in verse 14 and 15. We'll finish with this. This is true testimony. The fulfillment of all things, the Son of Man, and this is what the Son of Man has done. In verse 14, and as Moses, Jesus tells Nicodemus, lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

See, Jesus isn't just smacking Nicodemus around. You're the teacher of the law, yet you do not understand the testimony of the law and the prophets? He's not just making them feel bad just to make them feel bad. What Jesus is doing is leading him to, you need to understand true testimony. And you know what the true testimony of scripture is. It is me and my work that I've done for your lack of belief, for your sins.

And that's what it is. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up. That whoever believes in him may have eternal life, new birth. True and proper belief for you, Nicodemus. Notice how Jesus points to, for the work of the fulfillment of all testimony, Jesus himself, he points to the Old Testament. He points to a story that Nicodemus would have read over and over and over and over again.

He quotes what happened to Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness. Nicodemus would have known this testimony of scripture but Nicodemus didn't realize that this was pointing to Jesus the need for something that he needed Jesus is quoting from numbers 21 here in verses 14 and 15 he's quoting from numbers 21 in numbers 21 in verse 4 and 5 the Israelites are in the wilderness and they complain because of disbelief they don't believe that God can actually do the work that he's promised that he would do for them coming out of the wilderness. And so they complain and they have false belief.

And so in Numbers 21, verses 6 and 7, God sends a curse of snakes to judge them. He says okay you going to be murmurers you going to be complainers you going to have false belief fine then I going to send snakes to you to judge you This is what happens in Numbers 21 And then in verse 8 and 9 God has Moses place the curse that he sent to them on a pole for all to look at and to be healed of the curse So the snakes go and they bite them. They're all dying.

And God provides a remedy in that and placing the same curse on a pole for all to look at to not die from that curse. And what Jesus is saying is like, he's saying, this is all about me. This is pointing to what you need right now, Nicodemus. You and all false believers, you are all complainers, murmurers. You don't believe properly. And what I'm going to do as the fulfillment of all testimony, as the Son of Man, true God coming down, I'm going to die on a tree, and I'm going to place that curse that God is placing on you of death and sin, of false belief, and I'm going to place it upon myself.

And the only way you can be healed, Nicodemus, is by looking to me to be healed and to have new birth. So what Jesus is saying is, he's saying, look at the testimony of the Old Testament. Look at the testimony of the Law and the Prophets. And this is just one example of how it points to Jesus being the fulfillment and the need for them to look upon him and to be healed of their sinful disbelief.

So Jesus isn't just smacking Nicodemus around, making fun of him, for having such an ignorant or a lack of reception of the truth. But he's saying that it's all centered on me, and I've come to heal you of this disease, this curse that you have, if you look upon me and receive life. So new belief, or new birth from above, It is a powerful work of God for the sinner.

But it happens through means of proper and true testimony. And the proper and true testimony is of Jesus Christ and his work for sinners like you and me. So in order to receive new birth, put your eyes upon the proper testimony of Jesus and his work. And you will be saved. You will be born again. And you can see, as we finish with this, the issue here, right?

Does new birth come and then belief? Or does belief come and then new birth? There's this issue with what comes first. And the teaching of scripture is very clear that if you want new birth, you need to believe upon Jesus. But you will not truly believe upon Jesus until you have new birth. So the answer for you is to trust in Jesus.

Follow him. He's the one that can lead you to where you need to be. Trust in him and he'll give you the life that was promised of old. because not only is he the fulfillment of scripture of who he is, but he's also the fulfillment of scripture in what he has done to bring you from false belief to true belief, from old life to new life found in him. Let us believe and let us pray to our God.

Oh, Father in heaven, thank you for Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord, for the work that he has done. We see the sin of Nicodemus and we see our own sin in him. We see our failure to believe and we see that even in the nation Israel. and we see, Lord, the testimony of the old found in Jesus Christ, that for those who believe upon Christ, who became our curse, we can be saved.

We can go from hardness of heart to a new heart. We can, Lord, go from living a life separated from Christ to living near to Christ. But we see, Lord, that the fulfillment of that testimony is the work of what Jesus has done. So let us be believers upon this work. God in heaven, there are many of us, Lord, who can have this true belief, who can be born again, yet we can fall into the practices of false belief.

Lord, our studies of scripture, of the testimony of scripture can amount to just dryness on our bones because we are not connecting it with the true testimony of salvation. So I pray, God, that you would remind the people before me that they would seek Jesus out in the scriptures and be refreshed in him. to see that he truly is the fulfillment of all testimony. It's all yes and amen in him and the work that he's done for sinners like us.

And so let us believe upon this Jesus. Let us look to his work. Let us see his love for us. Let us see the next couple weeks, this love that he has done, this work that he has done for us, and let it fill our hearts with joy and thanksgiving that although we are sinners and wicked, in Jesus Christ we can be found to be pure and perfect. And we can be found to have proper belief, Lord. we can be found with a new birth.

So let us believe upon him together as a church of God and let us praise him for this work he's done for us, even though we were not deserving. It's in Jesus Christ, our risen Lord, it's in his name we pray, amen.