Jesus and Nicodemus

Jesus and Nicodemus
John 3:1-21

There was a man named Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee, (that is a person who kept the Jewish law) and he was a ruler of the Jews. Nicodemus knew about Jesus, and about the miracles he did, and so one night he came to see Jesus and said to him "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God: for no man can do the miracles that you do, unless God was with him"

Jesus answered Nicodemus and said "Truly, truly I say to you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Nicodemus said to him "How can a man be born when he is old?

Jesus answered him and said "Truly, truly I say to you, unless a man is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (That means that we were born from our mother's body, but there is another birth which is from God, and that a person will not see God's kingdom unless he has this new birth from God.)

Nicodemus said to Jesus "How can these things be?" and Jesus answered him, "If I have told you about things that happen on the earth, and you do not believe, how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things?

The Son of man must be lifted up: (that means that Jesus was speaking of his death on the cross) so that whoever believes in him should not die, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, (that is the people who are in the world, including you and me) that he gave his only begotten Son, (the Lord Jesus Christ) that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world through him might be saved. The person that believes on Jesus is not condemned, but the person that does not believe is condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (The Lord Jesus Christ).

After that Nicodemus went away, and Jesus went with his disciples into Judea..

The last we read of Nicodemus is after the Lord Jesus has died on the cross. Along with a man called Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloe, which are spices, to anoint the body of Jesus, and they buried him in a new tomb in a garden. Because Nicodemus did these things for Jesus after he was dead, it would probably be right to say that Nicodemus believed Jesus about his need to be born from heaven, and that he has everlasting life.

Memory Verse: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Questions:
1. Who was Nicodemus?
2. When did he come to Jesus?
3. Why did he come to Jesus?
4. What was the most important thing Jesus said to Nicodemus?
5. How can we know that Nicodemus believed Jesus?

Answers:
1. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews.
2. By night
3. Because he believed that Jesus was sent from God because of his miracles.
4. You must be born again.
5. Because after Jesus died on the cross, Nicodemus helped bury him and brought spices for his body.

VickiGross/Aug'02

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