 Say, Heavenly Father, we come to you under the name of Jesus, we thank you for this day, we thank you for the class we are about to have. God, I just give all my classmates into your hands, I give Pastor Deepika into your hands. As she teaches us the deepest truth in the Bible, help us to open our mind and heart and listen to it and understand the truth. Jesus, help us to hear through our spiritual ears, our spiritual eyes, so that we can understand the deep revelation of who you are and everything that you have did for us, Jesus. Give us good Wi-Fi connection throughout the session. Be blessed, Deepika Man, and we give her in your hands that your spirit guide her and may this class be done for your glory and glory. In Jesus' name and in prayer. Amen. Thank you so much. Yeah, we shall get started with John chapter 3. So we have covered the first two chapters and now we come into a very familiar chapter. Now this chapter is mainly popular because of the story of Nicodemus and John 3.16. But of course there are many other truths as well contained in this chapter. So usually we do two chapters at a time. But today because this is John chapter 3, we shall devote the entire class to just this one single chapter. So as usual, it's my request. We could have different people, multiple people reading out the verses for us. It kind of helps you stay alert so that you do not get too sleepy and tune out. So if we can have different persons reading out the verses for us, that would be most helpful. So we can begin maybe with just verses 1 and 2. So if someone could please read out for us, John chapter 3 verses 1 and 2. Please go ahead. John chapter 3 verse 1 and 2. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are the teacher. Come from God, for no one can do the signs that you do unless God is with him. Yeah. So thank you so much for reading out the verses for us. Over here Nicodemus is described as a member of the Jewish ruling council. So here is a man who has got a lot of political influence and authority. And because he belongs to the Pharisee sect, it also means that he would know his scriptures in great detail. And he's also probably an expert in teaching. Yeah. In fact, Jesus refers to him as teacher in verse 10. So yes, he also teaches the scriptures. So this man is educated. He knows his scriptures and he has power and authority. A person like this comes to Jesus to speak to him. And he says, I have been looking at the signs which you have been performing. And based on these signs, I can see that you are from God is what he says. And earlier when we had seen John chapter 2, there we saw in John chapter 2 verse 23. It says, now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. So when they saw the miracles that were being performed, it helped them to believe that this is the Messiah for whom they had been waiting. So now even this Jewish ruler, this very influential person, he also had been watching the signs. And now he is wondering, should I believe in this person as the Messiah who has been promised or should I continue to wait? So it is basically to find to get a clarification regarding this matter that we see Nicodemus coming over here to Jesus. And we have all kinds of comments being made about him because he chooses to come at night. It might not have been because he is afraid of opposition or anything of the sort, because we see that this event takes place almost at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, at which point of time the opposition from the Pharisees has not yet started. So it's not that Nicodemus would be threatened in any way in having to come and speak to Jesus and meet with Jesus. So that's probably not why he came during the night. He probably came during the night because he wanted to keep this conversation private because he is a ruler in the Jewish council. And so if he kind of gives his vote for this person and says, yes, I believe that this is the Messiah, his words are going to carry great weight. And so he wants to first of all make sure and find out for himself whether this person is the Messiah. And once he is sure about it, then he would know he would be comfortable about making his association with Jesus known in public to everyone. So I think he's trying to be discreet over here because he's a ruler and what he does and the people that he associates with does matter. So he comes first now in the night to speak to Jesus privately and find out whether this truly is the Messiah who has been promised in the Old Testament. And so he says, it looks as though you have come from God based on all the signs that you have been performing. But his basic question is, are you the Messiah himself? Should we accept you as the one whom we have been waiting for for thousands of years? That is the burning question with which this person has come. Now, of course, we do know that signs and wonders can be performed even by someone who has not come from the Lord. We have verses which talk about that. 2 Thessalonians 2, 9, Revelation 13, 13 and 14. In these verses, we see that even Satan can perform signs and wonders. Maybe we could have one person read out 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 9 please. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 9, if someone could read out please. The coming of the lawless one is according to the works of Satan with all power, sign and lying wonders. Yeah, I know it says over here that he will use signs and lying wonders. So yes, even the evil one is capable of performing signs and wonders. But over here, not only does Jesus have his signs and wonders, he also has the everyday record of his daily life which people can openly see. I mean, they can openly see how he is living, the priorities that he has. So we generally do not go only on the basis of signs and wonders when we are trying to believe whether a person is true or not. We also look at the fruit of that person's life. So in the case of Jesus, not only do we see the signs and wonders, but we also see his everyday lifestyle. The people around him could openly see how he lives, the choices that he makes. So even the fruit of his life is showing that he is from God. So Nicodemus feels comfortable enough to come and have this conversation with Jesus because Jesus' lifestyle and his signs and wonders all match and they all seem to be indicating that he truly is from God. So now the only question that remains is, is he just from God or is he also the expected Messiah? And Jesus does not even answer that question. So that is the direct question which Nicodemus is posing. He is saying, you have come from God and so indirectly he is saying, so am I supposed to assume that you are the Messiah? But Jesus does not reply, rather he says something completely different. And so in verse 3, we have Jesus speaking. And so maybe we could have someone read out verses 3 and 4. Yeah, if someone could please read out. Jesus answered and said to him, most actually I said to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born again? How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born again? Yes, thank you. Yeah, you know, I really appreciate it that we have people who are willing to read out the verses. Thank you so much for that. So yes, here Jesus changes the topic rather than confirming and saying, yes, I am the Messiah rather than saying that he picks up another new topic. And he says, nobody can see the kingdom of God. Nobody can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born again. And the Greek word used over here, there's a slight debate regarding that because that word that is used over there, the Greek word would be unless they are born, anothen, that's the Greek word. So that word anothen can be translated as born again, or it can also be translated as born from above. So it could be either translation. So some translations prefer to use the term born again, whereas some other translations take up the other meaning of this particular word anothen and they say born from above, which would be more relevant. I suppose depending on the next few verses which will come along, where Jesus talks about how a person needs to be born of the spirit and all of those details, maybe we could say that born from above makes more sense because Jesus speaks along those lines in the next few verses. So we could probably say that the translation, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born from above, may be a better translation. So here the point that Jesus seems to be making is, though he does not say it in so many words, the point that Jesus seems to be making over here is that you have come over here to find out whether I am truly the Messiah, but are you ready for the Messiah? Because you see nobody will be able to enter the kingdom of God unless they are born from above. So are you born from above? Because otherwise it's a moot point whether I am really the Messiah or not because you may not even be ready for it. So rather than directly confirming to him and saying, yes I am the Messiah rather Jesus seems to be saying to him, are you even ready for this kingdom of God? Are you really ready for the Messiah even? Have you been born again? And this does not make sense to Nicodemus which is why he says, I am a grown up person so it's a little too late for me to be born. So he says over here, how can someone be born when they are old? So birthing is something that happens in babyhood whereas now I am a grown man so how can I be born now? And so he says it's not possible in fact to be born because nobody can again re-enter their mother's womb is what Nicodemus says. And then in reply to this we see Jesus explains a few things and then there are two statements that he makes in verse 12 and then also in verse 9 in verse 10 Jesus says, you are Israel's teacher and do you not understand these things? So which means Jesus expected him to understand the statement which he is making. The same we see even in verse 7 where Jesus says, you should not be surprised at my saying you must be born again. So based on verse 7 and verse 10 we get the impression that Jesus actually expects this person to have understood this term being born again. Why would Jesus expect Nicodemus to have understood this particular phrase? Because he is a teacher and as a teacher he is supposed to be very familiar with the Old Testament scriptures. So we learn that Jesus is actually referring to Deuteronomy chapter 30 verses 1 to 6 over here. So you know if we could turn in our Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 30 verses 1 to 6. We see over there that there are certain promises, certain prophecies that God made to the people of Israel. There are three things that God says to them. He says that they will be taken into exile but a time will come when God will have mercy upon them and they will be restored back to their land and after that their hearts will be changed, their hearts will be circumcised by God himself so that they become true followers of God and then the third thing is that the Messiah will come. So those are the three things that are prophesied and promised to the people in Deuteronomy 30 verses 1 to 6 and this is a hope which the people have been holding on to for many, many generations especially after the exile, after they come back to the land and now they have lost their political power and they are feeling discouraged about themselves because they are no longer able to hold up their heads as a proud and independent nation. So for them these promises which have been made earlier become very, very valuable. So these are things which they buy heart and which they go on reminding themselves of. And so in their belief system, the Jewish people, the Pharisees and all of the leaders this is what they believed that yes, just as promised Israel had been regathered from the nations because a lot of them come back to Jerusalem to settle down over here. So the first prophecy according to them they believe it is something that has been fulfilled. The second promise about their hearts being circumcised and them becoming holy followers of the Lord they believe that this too has already been accomplished because after coming back from exile they have not touched idols. They have given up that aspect of their unfaithfulness and plus we see that a lot of spiritual groups have now developed, Sadducees, Pharisees, the SNEs there are so many religious groups that have come up and all these groups came up with the idea of making themselves prepared and ready to receive the Messiah. So they feel that because of the birth of all these spiritual groups revival has already taken place so in that sense their hearts have already been circumcised is what they believe. So now only the third thing is still lacking and so they are eagerly waiting for the third promise to be fulfilled. So when Nicodemus comes over there he is coming over there with this belief system Israel has been regathered they have been gathered from the nations and they have been brought back to Jerusalem to get themselves ready to receive the Messiah they have rebuilt the temple the temple of Solomon had been destroyed but now they have rebuilt the temple once again the walls of Jerusalem have been rebuilt everything has now been prepared and then spiritual revivals have taken place and you have groups like Pharisees and Sadducees that have come into existence so he is under the impression that they are all ready and now it's just a matter of welcoming the Messiah now when these Pharisees and Sadducees and the Essenes and all of these groups first came up they were formed with very sincere hearts they genuinely did not want to live sinful lives they genuinely wanted to please the Lord and honour him so it was with that righteous attitude that these groups were formed and the Pharisees so in the beginning the Pharisees were very sincere but by and by it began to turn into more an outward faith rather than an inward reality so after a few years they continued to follow the outward rituals most sincerely and just to be on the safe side they added a whole bunch of extra laws and regulations in the hope that they will continue to hold on to the mosaic law with all sincerity so they added extra laws to make themselves stay sincere to the mosaic law so there were efforts being made on the outside and then a few generations later they began to realise that this is too much of a burden they are unable to bear it they are unable to keep these conditions and these laws and so then the hypocrisy set in they have to continue maintaining outward pretenses that everything is fine only they are good they are prepared and ready their hearts are circumcised they need to keep up the outward pretenses but oh on the inside only dirt is now gathering because they are not willing to even admit their sinfulness anymore so somewhere along the way these groups which began with such sincerity and dedication they lost the fire for God which they originally had they lost that humility where they would just go into His presence and say Lord I admit that there is sin inside me you help me you change me only you or Lord can transform me that humility was lost somewhere along the way so then the hypocrisy set in and we see that happening even in our own church history we see the Methodist movement the Baptist movement when these movements started they really started with such amazing devotion and passion for the Lord these people who started these movements really wanted to begin churches that will be devoted to the Lord and honour Him but then as the years went by the people rather than continuing to go back to the Lord on a regular basis for renewal rather than undoing that because Jesus said stay connected to the wine and so that's a daily process if you just connect to the wine once that is not enough if this is something that you do daily because it says abide and abiding is a daily process so what happened along the way is that the people stopped abiding and when they stopped abiding and repenting of their sins and again renewing their commitment when they stopped doing that hypocrisy set in so this was the issue with the Pharisees so even though Nicodemus was probably thinking that their hearts were circumcised their hearts were not ready and so now Jesus is speaking to him not with condemnation but rather with love Jesus wants him to catch the truth that he is not yet ready that his heart is not really circumcised and so Jesus chooses to explain to him and this is what the Lord says in verses 5 and 6 you know so now that we have kind of understood the context a little better if one of us can read out verses 5 and 6 please well because that was a long explanation I hope you have not all tuned out you know if one of you can just unmute and read verses 5 and 6 verse 5 and 6 Jesus answered most assuredly I say to you unless one is born of Father 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 yeah so Jesus says when something is born of the flesh it can only be flesh someone who has been born through the human process of birth will just be human he will not be able to do superhuman things through something spiritual he would have to be born through the Spirit only then he can step up from the human level to the spiritual level is the truth that Jesus is bringing out and that is why Jesus says a person has to be born of the water and the Spirit only when that is done then that person can start being spiritual and then they can gain entry into the kingdom of God so Jesus is explaining to Nicodemus that he needs to have this because if he is relying on just his human birth then he is still in the human fleshly realm he has not yet been promoted to the spiritual realm and for that to happen he needs to be born of water and the Spirit now again this is something that expected the teachers of the law to understand because this concept of being born of water and the Spirit was explained in the time of Ezekiel so these are verses that we must look at so if we could have someone turn to Ezekiel chapter 36 verses 25 to 28 please Ezekiel 36 25 to 28 not asking too much from you right so please do read Ezekiel 36 26 to 28 I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit within you I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to work in my status and you will keep my judgments and do then you shall dwell in the land that I get to your Father you shall be my people and I will be your God yeah so the verse 27 is where God promises I will put my Spirit in you now the earlier verse verse 25 in that verse he says I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols so these two things are promised over here how God will do a cleansing from his side and how God will put his Spirit in his people and then they will be careful to keep his loss so this is a divine work which God will do from his side so here when Jesus is saying you need to be born of water and the Spirit is reminding Nicodemus of this truth which was promised in Ezekiel 36 that God is the one who will clean us with his divine water he is the one who will put his divine Spirit in us and that will cause us to be spiritually reborn so the flesh can only give birth to flesh humans can only give birth to humans but it is God who can give birth to somebody who is who can operate in the spiritual realm so Jesus follows up on this with verses 7 and 8 if you could have someone read out thank you so much for reading out the previous verses if you can have someone read out verses 7 and 8 please verse 7 and 8 do not marvel that I said to you you must be born again the wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of feet but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes so is everyone who is born of this spirit so here Jesus says to Nicodemus this is not really something that should surprise you too much because when it comes to the normal everyday earthly things you know how the wind operates I mean you may not really understand the physics of it why sometimes the wind is so strong and violent why sometimes the wind is just a gentle breeze which is very pleasant why it could even turn into a tornado which can cause destruction you may not understand the physics of what is involved but when it's coming you hear it you can hear it and when you hear it you choose to act you know you quickly go running and you close your windows that the dust will not come in you know you take some steps you take some action in response to what you have heard even though you don't you haven't quite understood the mechanics behind what you have heard it's the same with even spiritual matters is what Jesus says over here you may not quite understand how the spiritual birth takes place how does Jesus clean with water and make us and cleanse us as you know as it like it says in Ezekiel 36 he may not quite understand the details of it but if the spirit is saying these things to us are we willing to respond in the same way we respond to the physical wind are we willing to respond to this these truths which the spirit of God is beginning to reveal so Jesus says that to him and even though Jesus said you should not be surprised in his next sentence Nicodemus does express his surprise if we can maybe look at verses 9 to 11 verses 9 to 11 please verses 9 to 11 Nicodemus answered and said to him how can these things be Jesus answered and said to him are you the teacher of Israel and do not know these things most actually I say to you we speak what we know and what we have seen and you do not receive our witness verse 10 for so yes yeah okay if I have told you early things and you do not believe how will you believe if I tell you have any things yeah so even though Jesus is saying you should not be surprised you know Nicodemus still asks how can this be he still has not understood this whole idea of having to be born from above and so now Jesus says to him we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen over here the we probably refers to you know the testimony which John the Baptist has given saying that this is the Messiah this is the Lamb of God so you know believe in him so the testimony has been given by John and also this divine testimony which is being given by the Father regarding Jesus through all the signs and miracles there is also a testimony that is being given by the spirit because the spirit convicts people in their hearts and and helps them sense when truth is being told so all these are testifying and pointing towards Jesus and you know saying that we should believe in what he says so here Jesus in verse 11 he says we are speaking about things which we know and we are testifying about things which we have seen but you do not accept our testimony and over here the you is plural so here Jesus is not just saying this to Nicodemus alone so just to clarify that in the NIV you know it says we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen but still you people do not accept our testimony that term you people has been put over there in the NIV just to show that it's a plural you so Jesus is probably addressing the entire phariseic community and he is saying you people who are supposed to be learned in the Old Testament these are things which have already been talked about over there you have been told that it is God who will divinely circumcise hearts you have been told that he is the one who will cleanse you with water in a way which will remove the impurities you have been told that the spirit will be given to you so these are the things that I am talking about that is the kind of spiritual rebirth that I am talking about and he says but you people still do not accept our testimony and then he goes on to say I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things so it's as though Jesus is saying to Nicodemus you know the phariseic community is kind of rejecting the things that I am saying but you can choose to not be one of them you can rather choose to take the testimony of John the Baptist and place your belief in me you can choose to believe in what I am saying and accept my testimony and he says why should you accept my testimony it's because of where I have come from and that is what he talks about it verses 13 to 15 so if we can have someone read out for us verses 13 to 15 and thank you so much for those of you who are reading out yeah 13 to 15 please no one has ascended to heaven but he 13 to 15 okay let me read verse 13 to 15 no one has ascended to heaven but he who came down from heaven that is the son of man who is in heaven and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the son of man be lifted up that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life yeah Jesus says the reason I am asking you to accept John the Baptist testimony and place your belief in me and then accept my testimony about what I am saying because I have come from heaven no one has gone into heaven except the one who has come from heaven the son of man and so here he uses you know he refers to Daniel 7 where it refers to the Messiah as the son of man we touched upon that in our previous class so here he is saying I am that son of man and I have come from heaven so you must accept my testimony and he says a day will come when I will indeed be exalted I will be lifted up in the same way the bronze snake was lifted up in the wilderness in the same manner I too will be lifted up and I too will be exalted and I will do this so that people can have eternal life so there is eternal life in me I am able to give you the spiritual birth which you know I have been talking about so place your belief in me choose to trust in me because I will definitely be exalted and lifted up one day okay is what Jesus says over here so he compares himself to the bronze snake which was you know set up in the wilderness by Moses now just for us to kind of catch the background of this if we were to turn to Numbers chapter 21 verses 4 to 9 in Numbers 21 4 to 9 we see the event to which Jesus is referring at that time the Israelites had you know were being led through the wilderness by God and he was freely providing mana from heaven to them but the people were not satisfied because you know they were not receiving water according to their timetable God was providing the water according to his divine timetable so he was testing them to see to see to what extent they would you know continue to believe in him and so sometimes he would delay the water supply just to see their heart and every time he delayed it they would immediately grumble rather than saying you provided in the past so I know for a fact you'll provide even this time rather than having that attitude of faith they just immediately began to resort to grumbling now you see Moses and Aaron were not doing that there were some spiritual people in the camp who were continuing to hold on to God but most of the people had this wrong attitude so in numbers 21 verses 4 to 9 the people kind of go a little beyond limits you know they say in verse 5 they say there is no bread there is no water and we detest this miserable food the food which is being divinely given to them from heaven I mean this has not happened for any nation anywhere God provides rain so that crops can be grown but at no point has food directly fallen down from heaven for thousands of people to gather and eat to their fill and what is their gratitude for this amazing supernatural act of God they label this manna as miserable food I mean that shows the level of their lack of gratitude you know so when they speak in this manner it says in the next verse verse 6 number 21 verse 6 the Lord sent venomous snakes among them and they know this poisonous snakes begin to bite the people and the people begin to die and then Moses immediately intercedes and he cries out and he says please Lord forgive us of our sins please don't allow destruction to come and God you know listens to his cry and is willing to provide a solution so in this context that bronze snake is you know prepared so in verse 8 the Lord says to Moses make a snake and put it up on a pole anyone who is bitten can look at it and live so Jesus now chooses to compare himself to this bronze snake and so the question which people raises he could have compared himself to a lamb he could have compared himself to a dow why did he choose to compare himself to something that has such negative connotations and so there are two reasons there's a cultural reason you know because the Egyptians had their own snake gods which was supposed to provide divine healing but then in this particular case you know those snake gods were unable to do anything but on the other hand the bronze snake which God sets up that is able to heal and deliver so there is one cultural reason for it but then we who live in New Testament times can understand this entire imagery much better because we can connect the Old Testament scriptures with the New Testament traditions and be able to understand these truths at a deeper level so if we were to think about Genesis chapter 3 where a curse was placed on the snake because you know Satan comes through the snake to tempt the you know Adam and Eve and so the curse is placed on the snake as a result of which the snake began being seen as a cursed object as something that is cursed and now Jesus says I am going to be lifted up in the same way the snake was lifted up so he is indicating that he too will choose to take a curse upon himself one day and become a curse for us and we know we see this very clearly stated in Galatians chapter 3 verse 13 if someone could turn to Galatians chapter 3 verse 13 it would be good to look at that Galatians 3 verse 13 please yeah Galatians 3 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the low having become a curse for us for it is written curse is everyone who hangs on a tree yeah so in those days when a person is killed and his body is hung on a pole you know for display purposes or something like that or later on in the Roman times when being hung on a pole developed a whole new meaning because now it involved crucifixion so in all of these connotations someone being hung up on a pole and being displayed over there it's a matter of disgrace it's being declared to the world that this person has done something very evil something very rotten and so now God's curse has come upon them that would be the kind of indirect announcement which is being made regarding anyone who is hung on a pole so cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole and now Jesus chooses to become part of that and he too chooses to be hung on a pole and becomes a curse so that the curse which is supposed to come upon humankind because of their sinfulness that curse will rather than coming upon humankind it will rather go and settle down upon Jesus and the blessings and righteousness which are upon him he chooses to give that to humankind so there is a kind of exchange divine exchange which God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit choose to do voluntarily do for us so the curse which should actually be resting upon our heads he takes it upon his head and blessing and righteousness which rests upon his head eternally that he chooses to impart to us humankind and so he is saying over here even though he does not give the explanation and the details he is saying to Nicodemus you know a day will come and I will be lifted up I will be exalted I will become a curse and I will do that so that people can have eternal life they will have my righteousness they will carry my blessings and they will walk into you know an eternal life so he is saying to Nicodemus this is what I am going to do because I am the one who has come from heaven I am the son of man that Daniel chapter 7 talked about so because of all of these factors you must choose to believe in me and if you believe in me I can give you the spiritual birth which I am talking about is the point that Jesus is trying to make you know in one of the earlier verses you know I think it was verse 6 where Jesus had said he gives birth to flesh but the spirit gives birth to spirit you see Nicodemus was a sincere man of God he truly wanted to know the the true revelations in scripture and he truly wanted the Messiah to come and you know he was willing to submit to the Messiah so he had a good heart attitude but as long as he continues to just be flesh as long as he continues to just be human everything that he does all the ministry that he does will just continue being flesh it will never be something spiritual which can yield eternal spiritual results so in a way Jesus is saying to him you know you need to undergo this process you need to become spiritual you need to allow me to cause you to be reborn in the spiritual realm because if you allow me to do that then whatever you do will start having a spiritual aspect and it will bear eternal fruit because whatever you're doing in your own human effort will never be good enough and that's you know the same applies to us whatever we try to do you know in our human efforts on our own can only give birth to flesh it may have good results but they will only be temporary results you know just to use an example a person who is serving let us say you know as a doctor what he is offering is good he is using science to bring healing to people but they're going to die one day anyway because as a human he is just providing something human at a human level to the extent that science can help he is providing assistance but when the time of death comes and the Lord says you know your days are numbered and now it's done then that person will die in spite of whatever efforts the doctor may put in so the flesh can has limitations it can only give birth to flesh but the spirit it can give birth to spirit and there are no limits to the spirit in fact we see that in one of the following verses where it talks about how Jesus has been given the spirit without measure so through all of these sentences that Jesus is speaking is driving home the point that Nicodemus even though he is such a good man he needs the spiritual birth and it's only going to happen through the son of man so he needs to accept Jesus as this messiah and submit to him only then will he be able to move into the spiritual realm so having understood those concepts now if we can move into John 3 16 ok fine maybe you know it's time for the break so we can maybe do John 3 16 after we come back from our break so yeah thank you so much each person who read out the verses and yeah we'll come back after the break