Day 3

Memorize: Heavenly birth taught Nicodemus
John 3

Key Verses: 6, 16-18, 30, 36

Notice today’s Phrase. Jesus is the heavenly birth, and he teaches Nicodemus about then need for a heavenly birth. Verse six begins to help us understand this chapter, body birth and Spirit birth, physical birth and spiritual birth. The water birth of verse 5 is our natural birth, amniotic fluid. Body birth is visible, Spirit birth is invisible. Spirit birth happens when belief happens.

Notice how many times the word belief and its related words are mentioned in this chapter. In Moses’ day they were spared by believing what the LORD said about the snake on the stick. Nothing magical about the snake, but their trust in what God said made looking at the snake powerful. Believing that Jesus’ death on the Cross paid for our sins removes the consequences of the sin. If we don’t believe, our status as a condemned person is not changed. We stay condemned. Believing is the same as trusting. When we trust Jesus we have eternal life. It is ours to enjoy from the moment we begin believing. It is not something we own, but something we share in.

John the Baptist learned a very important message that is often very hard for us to learn. When he became successful, had large crowds who listened and understood his message of repentance, he could have built a larger church and gone on TV. Instead, he recognized it was not about him. Our society does not value what God values. We value pride and strength demonstrated. God values humility and dependence on Him. Jesus must continue to become more prominent in our lives and we must fade into the background. This is very hard in our world.

Jesus was willing to come and serve us, to show us what walking in the Spirit looks like day by day. But more than living as an example, He offers to share His life with us by connecting into His Spirit. We do that by trusting what God has said in the Scriptures.

REVIEW: Acrostic Theme & each chapter’s phrase, just three so far.