Please do keep your bibles open. In John, chapter three. We’re going to look at that together now. There are lots of people out there who know lots about lots of things. I’m sure there are even some experts in different things in the room here tonight. In fact, I know a few. I know people who know lots about all sorts of subjects. But there are different kinds of knowing stuff isn’t know. You might know lots about bees. In fact, is Louise or Jonathan here tonight? We have a couple of beekeepers at church. Would you believe that, Louise? Ask Louise about bees. She’ll tell you lots about them. But it’s quite a different thing. You can know lots about bees, but tasting honey is really quite different, isn’t it? You can know all about how they work, how they make it. But until you taste the honey, it’s a very different kind of knowing, isn’t it? You might be able to name every footballer in a particular team. And you might be able to remember every result going back however many years. But it’s a very different thing to actually stand on the terrace. You still have terraces. I don’t think they do anymore, do they? You stand on the terrace and cheer when the goal goes in. That’s a very different feeling. That’s a very different kind of knowing. You might know loads about geography and maps. It’s a very different thing to stand on the top of the mountain and look out. In fact, I know someone here tonight who’s into paragliding. Paragliding. Now, you might be an expert in physics. You might know all about how gravity works. You might know all about air pressure. But I’m guessing I’ve never done it and I’m not planning to do it. It’s a very different thing to throw yourself off the mountain and experience that in action. There’s very different ways of knowing things, knowing and experiencing things. And in our Bible recent night, Jesus meets a man named Nicodemus. And Nicodemus knows lots about God. We get some clues about what he knows and who he is. In verse one of our reading now, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the jewish ruling council, sometimes called the Sanhedrin. This guy was in the know Pharisees. Their job was to know lots about God, to be very religious, to know all the rules and doctrines to follow. There is no question that this guy would have known lots about God. But he wants to know more. Verse two. He wants to know more about Jesus. He came to Jesus at night and said, rabbi, that means teacher. We know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing. If God were not with him. He says, jesus, I’ve seen what you’ve been doing. Everyone’s talking about it. There must be something more about you to know now, we’re told at the end of chapter two. End of chapter two, Jesus talking to the crowds. There’s this strange phrase. It says, jesus knew what was in each person. And here in chapter three, it’s like he knows what’s going on in Nicodemus. You see, here, Nicodemus doesn’t even ask a question, and yet Jesus answers him. It’s as though he already knows what’s going inside. On inside what Nicodemus is thinking and feeling. You see, Nicodemus evidently knew lots about God. But I wonder if he truly experienced God. Two ways of knowing something. Had he really experienced God? Because look what Jesus says next. Verse three. Here’s how he answers that. It’s not even a question, it’s a statement. It’s a kind of statement of curiosity. Here’s how he answers him. Verse three. Jesus declared, I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. Now, Nicodemus asks, then the obvious question is the question I think we should all be thinking, well, what? How? Verse four. He says, how can a man be born when he is old? Or verse nine, he asks similar questions. And he how can this be? How Jesus? What’s this all about? And I wonder if that’s a question that lots of us have. How can I move on from knowing about God to really knowing him and really experiencing him? Perhaps you’ve been reading the Bible. Perhaps you’ve been coming to church. Perhaps you’ve only just started recently, and perhaps everything is new to you and you’re learning new stuff all the time. But perhaps you’d like to think, what is the next step? How do I really know him? What’s the step? To move beyond just knowing about someone to really knowing them? And at this point, the how might seem even more confusing. It’s slightly unfamiliar language, isn’t it, of being born again. Or, Jesus says later, born of the spirit. But even in his grasping and not really understanding what’s going on, Nicodemus gets something right. He realises that this isn’t something that he can do. How can I do this? At verse four? How can a man be born when he’s old? Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born. Even in that kind of misunderstanding, Nicodemus gets that this is something beyond him. I can’t do that. I’m not even sure what you mean. But whatever it is, that’s not something I can do, is it? He’d like to be able to do it. He’s been so good at learning stuff about God and so good about following God’s laws. Jesus, show me the way. What can I do? But he realises it’s not something that he can do. Only God can do this. Only God can bring new life. It’s echoing similar words in chapter one famous reading we have at Christmas. Chapter one, verse 13, or verse twelve, it says, yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. Again and again, Jesus is telling us, and John’s reminding us, that this new life, this new birth, is not something that we can do. It’s a gift of God. Like Andreas’ friend, the sheikh, who would have loved to do anything, anything he could to find a way from God. Say, Nicodemus, what must that do? What can I do? He told, there’s nothing you can do. This is a gift of God. He talks a little bit about here, about how it’s the work of the spirit. Verse seven, it says that. Verse eight. The wind, the spirit, blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, you cannot tell where it comes from or where it’s going. So it is of everyone born of the spirit. This isn’t something you can predict or say. This is exactly how it works. This is something that only God does. And what is being set up here is something of a chasm. Man on one side, God on another, flesh on one side, spirits on another, earth on one side, heaven on the other. There’s a big gap and you think, well, how can man ever really know God? How can Nicodemus ever really know God? Well, there’s an absolute game changer of a verse in verse 13. Have a look down at verse 13 with me. This verse kind of gets lost amid all the famous verses that are about to come. But verse 13 is absolutely where it’s at. So, verse 13, we’ve got this chasm set up at man and God. How can anyone ever really know verse 13? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven, the son of man. Son of man is Jesus, named to describe himself. No one’s ever gone into heaven. Jesus says, yeah, there is this chasm. No one’s ever crossed it except me. Except me, Nicodemus. Doesn’t need to give birth to himself again. He doesn’t need to climb up into heaven. Versatile Jesus has come. No one’s ever been to heaven except the one who’s come from heaven here. Jesus saying, there’s someone able to bridge this gap. I’m the one who can move your knowledge from your head to your heart so that you might truly know God. There’s no other way. That’s the only way. You see, there are temples and university faculties and churches and cathedrals that are full of people who know lots about God. But only Jesus, the son of man, can bring heaven to earth, can bring man to God. He’s the only one who can bridge the gap. He’s the only one who can help us really know God. And then from that point, Jesus set up the chasm. He said, here’s the only way to cross it. In some of the most famous verses in the Bible, he goes on to explain just how he bridges that gap. And he gives, in the following verses, three pictures of himself to help us understand how we can truly come to know God. Here’s the first one. The first one is this. Jesus is the healer. Say, look to him. Jesus is the healer, so look to him. Come with me to verse 14. So Jesus just said, he is the one who’s come from heaven. He’s the one who can bridge this gap. Verse 14. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the son of man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. Amen. What on earth is he talking about here? What on earth is he talking about him being like a snake? Well, Jesus here is referring to a story that comes in the book of numbers. You can look it up later. Numbers, chapter 21. And it’s a story of God’s people in the wilderness. They’ve escaped from Egypt, but they’ve not yet come to the promised land. They are wandering around in the desert, not really knowing what to do except making lots of silly mistakes. And they make another silly mistake, and God punishes them, and he sends a curse on them of poisonous snakes. And people start getting bitten by the snakes. They are killed. They die in the wilderness. And God says to Moses, here’s a way to rescue the people. Here’s a way to keep safe. Take your staff and put on top of it a bronze snake and hold it up and say to the people, if you want to stay safe from the snakes, look to that bronze snake. And all the people who didn’t look to themselves didn’t look for a way to escape. Didn’t look at some clever way of killing snakes, but everyone who looked to that bronze servant was saved. They were healed, they were rescued. And the simple message from that story is just two words. Look live. Look live. Look to that bronze snake. Lift it up and you will live. You see, Jesus here is using a kind of double play on words, this idea of being lifted up. At three more times in John’s gospel, Jesus will use that phrase himself. The sun will be lifted up and on each time he is talking about the cross, a time where he really will physically be lifted up for everyone to see lifted up. But the message is the same. Look live. Look to the saviour hanging on the cross and find life. Jesus says it later in John chapter six. He says, this is the will of my father, that everyone who looks to the son and believes in him shall have eternal life. Here’s the message. Look to Jesus. He’s the one who can heal and save. Here’s the second thing we see. We see Jesus is the saviour, so believe in him. Perhaps it’s the most famous verse in the Bible. John three, verse 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. This is such a famous verse, and it’s the kind of verse you see on billboards. And yet what’s striking is this is not a verse for a billboard. These are the words of Jesus speaking to Nicodemus. Nicodemus. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. This is personal. Jesus wants Nicodemus to believe this and he wants us to believe it. Put your name in at the start. Imagine he’s talking to you, friend. God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. He goes on to say, jesus, he’s not come into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world. Here is an invitation to come and believe in Jesus and find eternal life. But we can’t miss out. Verse 18. Whoever does not believe stands condemned. Jesus is urging a decision. Nicodemus, come on, make a choice. This is an invitation for you to come and find life and believe, an invitation not to stand condemned. Jesus the saviour, so believe in him. Thirdly, finally, Jesus, he’s the light, so live for him. Verse 19. This is the verdict. Light has come into the world, but people love darkness instead. Of the light because their deeds were evil. There’s a little detail at the start, isn’t there? Verse two. Nicodemus came at night. He comes at night in secret, not wanting others to know. It’s as though Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, come into the light. Come and live in the truth. Come and be honest about what you believe, says Nicodemus. I’m the light. I can give you new life. I can give you a better life, eternal life in God’s kingdom. Come into the light, he says later on in John chapter eight. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. You see, this new life, this being born again that’s on offer is not something we can earn or do. Rather, it’s a gift of God for all who will come. And look to Jesus as saviour, our healer, our light. Did Nicodemus receive this new life? Well, at first he’s curious about Jesus, but we meet him two more times in John’s gospel, perhaps look him up later. John, chapter seven. He’s arguing for Jesus. He says, does our law condemn a man without hearing him to find out what he’s been doing? He’s there at one of Jesus trials. He says, listen to this guy. Let’s find out more. The second time, third time we meet him is in John, chapter 19. Jesus burial says he was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who had earlier visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds. That’s weight, not money. That’s a lot. That he’s come to honour Jesus, to worship him, to show him the respect that he’s due. You see, what we see in Nicodemus actually is a journey of faith, that curiosity becomes conviction. But this conviction isn’t just in the head. It becomes in the heart, as he concludes with reverence and worship. You see, Jesus’ invitation to all of us is to come to him, to find new life now and eternal life. To come. Friends, come to Jesus, maybe even tonight. And not just to know about him, but to enjoy him, to love him, to, as it were, taste the honey, to experience the joy of life as it was meant to be lived in him. Amen.