Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
In this episode of the Defender Bible Study, Rick Morton, Vice President of Engagement at Lifeline Children’s Services, leads a deep dive into John 3:1-21. This well-known passage captures Jesus’ profound conversation with Nicodemus, a Pharisee, about the essential need to be "born again." Rick explores the timeless truth of John 3:16, explaining how Jesus revealed His divine purpose of bringing eternal life to humanity. Drawing on Charles Spurgeon's insights and the story of the bronze serpent in Numbers 21, we are reminded of God's love, the urgency of spiritual rebirth, and the redemptive work of Christ on the cross.
LIFELINE CHILDREN'S SERVICES
LIFELINE CHILDREN'S SERVICES
The mission of Lifeline Children’s Services is to equip the Body of Christ to manifest the gospel to vulnerable children. Our vision is for vulnerable children and their communities to be transformed by the gospel and to make disciples.
FOLLOW US
Creators & Guests
Guest
Pastor Chris Johnson
Chris joined Lifeline in March, 2020, and serves as the Sr. Director of Church Partnerships & External Advocacy. He previously served as a pastor for 24 years and as the Executive Director of the Kentucky Governor’s Office of Faith and Community Based Initiatives. Chris has also served as a consultant and has been a frequent speaker at local, state, and national conferences, churches, and community gatherings, sharing his family’s story and challenging others to answer the gospel call to care for vulnerable children and families. He was born and raised in metro Atlanta, GA, and currently lives in Birmingham. Chris studied Church Ministries (B.A.) at Trinity Baptist College and Educational Leadership (M.Ed.) at Regent University. He and his amazing wife, Alicia, have 10 children (7 adopted from foster care) and 3 grandchildren (2 adopted from foster care). They have also served as foster parents to more than 40 children.
What is The Defender Bible Study?
The Defender Bible Study is a weekly study of God’s Word as we seek to equip the Body of Christ to manifest the gospel to orphans and vulnerable children. This podcast is a ministry of Lifeline Children's Services.
Welcome to the defender bible study. A weekly encouragement to equip the body of Christ through the study of scripture and prayer to manifest the gospel to orphans and vulnerable children around the world. This podcast is a ministry of Lifeline Children Services where we believe that defending the fatherless begins by being rooted in God's word.
Rick Morton:Hey, folks. Welcome back to the Defender Bible Study. This is Rick Morton, vice president of engagement here at Lifeline Children Services. Today, we're gonna be looking at John chapter 3. It'd be in John chapter 3 verses 1 through 21.
Rick Morton:Obviously, such a such an incredibly familiar passage. One of those, passages that is a key cornerstone, to our faith. And, and and so we're gonna take a little bit of a a look at the story of Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus and and then obviously the passage, the paragraph that that contains John 316 and, about God's love for the world and, and Jesus' purpose in, in coming so that we would have everlasting life. But, Nicodemus was was a Pharisee who, who came to Jesus in under the dark of night. He came quizzically about, you know, trying to find out about who Jesus is.
Rick Morton:He obviously thought that there was something to what it is that that Jesus was was doing. And Charles Spurgeon said about, about this passage of scripture and about John chapter 3. He said if, he said if we were asked to to read a dying man who did not know the gospel, we should probably select this chapter as the most suitable one for an occasion. And what is good for dying men is also good for us all. That is, what we are and how soon we may actually be at the gates of death, none of us can tell.
Rick Morton:So Spurgeon just reminds us that the gospel is is not something we ever get past. It's not something we ever get over. That the truth of John 3 16, the truth of what what Jesus taught Nicodemus is super relevant for us all. And, and and it is the thing, the key cornerstone that we ground our lives on. And so Nicodemus comes to Jesus, and he wants to hear about the the kingdom of God.
Rick Morton:And he and so he says, rabbi, we know you're a teacher come from God. No one can do these signs unless God is with him. It's pretty funny because we know that there are signs throughout the scriptures that were done by people that were not that were not God's people, that were not God's emissaries. And so just because, you know, you had power, the 7 sons of Siva, I remember. And, you know, the book of Acts is one of those places where they were, you know, they were going around doing miracles and and you know, doing these all of these, you know, wondrous things.
Rick Morton:But they were anything but, followers of Jesus or or or those who were, you know, the ambassadors of God. And and but Nigad even saw something in Jesus, and he saw something different. And so he comes and he, you know, he says to him what he, you know, what he hopes is gonna lead him to finding out the, you know, the truth behind what Jesus is is doing. And so what does Jesus tell him? He says, truly truly I say to you unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Rick Morton:And one of the things I I really want us to to see in this passage is that everything that Jesus says, he says with a with a sense of urgency. In both this verse in verse 3, and then also down in verse 5, He he says truly truly to begin both of those, answers. And you know, when you see a word repeated in the New Testament, you you definitely see that there is, there's a a sense of of urgency and a sense of directness that's being, you know, that's being conveyed. This is this is almost like he's he's kinda grabbing Nicodemus by the shoulders and looking him directly in the eye, maybe shaking him a little bit and speaking with a a loud voice. And he's like, don't miss this.
Rick Morton:Listen to what I'm telling you. And and so Nicodemus, of course, says, you know, how can a man be born again when he's old? You know, can he enter into his mother's womb a second time? What does Jesus say? He says, truly, truly, I say of you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Rick Morton:Scholars have debated. What does that mean? Is that born born of water? Does that mean, you know, born naturally? Born you know, we but what we do know is is what he's saying is, look, unless unless you're born physically and spiritually, you can't enter the kingdom of God.
Rick Morton:Because he goes on and says, that which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. And then Jesus goes on to say, look you the wind blows where it wishes and you and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who's born of the Spirit. Jesus basically says, look, there are lots of things around you in life that you you don't understand completely and you can't explain.
Rick Morton:But yet you believe them and and you accept that they're true because they're true. And and so don't not believe in the work of the spirit just because you can't see it. Just because you can't quantify it. Just because you can't explain it. Don't dismiss it.
Rick Morton:And and Jesus is trying to help him understand that there's a very real tangible reality to the Holy Spirit and to the work of the spirit, and and that and that he wants Nicodemus to see this. And so Nicodemus is really kinda shaken. He says in verse 9, how how can these things be? And Jesus answered him, are you a teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Again, he says, truly, truly.
Rick Morton: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. So Jesus is saying, look, you can't explain this. You can't understand it, but we can see it and we do understand it. Jesus is telling him, like, I know what I'm talking about. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
Rick Morton:No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And 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. So Jesus says, look, I I can tell you with authority that the things that I'm telling you are true because I'm the only one that's ever seen them before. I'm the only one that's ever that's ever gone back and forth between heaven. I'm Jesus is is asserting his divinity at this point.
Rick Morton:He's asserting his claim to the throne. And he's asserting the fact that he deserves to be worshiped. It's interesting that in in in this moment, Jesus points to, you know, the story out of out of numbers, out of numbers chapter 21, about the bronze serpent. And, you know, if you go to numbers 21, what we what we see here is is that the people of Israel, had just defeated the Canaanites and and they had just won a victory because because God had had fought against the enemy and and he had defeated them. He he had he had won the battle for Israel.
Rick Morton:And it says, and the Lord listened to numbers 21:3, numbers 212. Let's go back there. It says, so Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, if you will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. And the Lord listened, it says in verse 3, and the Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So that place was known, was called Hormah.
Rick Morton:And and so then it says that that the people having just won this incredible victory, having seen God deliver them. They didn't win the battle, God won the battle. But they, but God won the battle on their behalf. They've seen the power of the Lord. They've been in His presence.
Rick Morton:And it says, then they journeyed from from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to go around to the land of Edom. And the soul of people became very discouraged in the way. How much is that just like us? So we see God do something amazing. We see God do something significant.
Rick Morton:And then what do we do? We immediately forget and and we become focused on ourselves. And so what do the people start to do? They start to grumble. Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die?
Rick Morton:There's no food. There's no water. That that God, you know, you've left us our our soul. Our soul loathes, the the what you provided for us. And so what does the Lord do?
Rick Morton:It says, so the Lord in verse 6 sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people and many of the people in Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that He will take away the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people. And and then it says, and then the Lord said to Moses, make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole.
Rick Morton:And it shall be that everyone who is bitten when he looks at it shall live. And so Moses made made a bronze serpent, put it on a pole. And so it was that if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked upon the bronze serpent, he lived. And so Jesus uses that story that Nicodemus knew very well, to help Nicodemus to understand this spiritual truth that he was telling them. He's saying that I Jesus is essentially pointing to that serpent and saying, that was a picture of me.
Rick Morton:And we can see really clearly on the other side of the cross, Numbers 21, that we see this, you know, this crazy story of of God creating these fiery serpents and then biting the people and people dying. It's it's a picture of our sin. That like right in our midst, the in us and around us is death, and we're susceptible to it. And and it was it was the attitude of the people. It was their it was their disregard for God in a living picture of these serpents that are slithered around and biting them, killing them.
Rick Morton:And so God says, make a make a bronze serpent, put it on a pole, like literally making something that looks like a cross, putting the snake up, and it says and He says to them, everyone who is bitten. How many of us have been bitten by the curse of sin? Every single one of us. When they look at it, when he looks at it, he shall live. And then what does Jesus say?
Rick Morton:He says, 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 in him is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the Son of God. And this is the judgment. The light is come into the world, and the people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil.
Rick Morton:For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come into the light, lest his work should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes into the light, so that he may be clearly seen, and that his works have been carried out in God. And and so Jesus pivots from this picture of the the serpent in Israel and and then looking to the bronze serpent to be able to live. And he says, so God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son. Jesus talking about himself.
Rick Morton:And he says that God didn't send him into the world to condemn the world. Jesus Jesus wasn't here. The condemnation already exists. Our sin has already condemned us. We deserve hell.
Rick Morton:We deserve separation from God. But that God made a way. And so Nicodemus is struggling with this and and had this understanding that that the Messiah was going to be was going to be this political leader, that was going to be this military leader, that was gonna come and deliver Israel out of the misery that they were in, from all the nations that had had been schoolyard bullies to them, who'd who'd beaten them, who'd who'd who'd smashed them down for years, who'd kept them under oppression, who enslaved them. That Israel Israel was so tired of being subject to someone believing that they were God's people, believing that they that they've been chosen by God for relationship with Him, but yet they'd experienced anything but that. And so they longed for a day when they were gonna be set free.
Rick Morton:What they had no idea was is that the Messiah was coming not to set them free from earthly oppression. He wasn't even coming to set them free immediately from the presence of sin. What He was doing is He was coming to purchase their redemption into eternity and to set them free forever from the curse of sin. And so all all of that sin that that bites us, that that that gnaws at us, that that besets us, that that weighs us down, That by the power of Jesus, we are set free from that. And all although some days we don't feel free because we still live in the presence of sin, we continue to struggle with sin and its effects.
Rick Morton:The truth is that by the work of Jesus, if we're following Jesus, we have been declared righteous. God has has set forth an eternity that we have been declared the judgment of God. That we've been set free. That that we are not any longer under the penalty of our sin. So that while we struggle in the middle of it and we see it every day, we know that God sees us in a way that he doesn't see our sin, but that he sees Jesus and that and that he sees us as as his redeemed and as his people.
Rick Morton:And so Jesus is saying in John 316, look upon him and live. Give your life to him. Trust him. Follow him. And, you know, that's that's what all of this is about.
Rick Morton:That's why Lifeline exists. That's why that's why we do what we do because we believe that Jesus is the Messiah. We believe that he is the deliverer. We believe that he's so loved the world, that he came and that he died and and he died so that so that we don't have to into eternity. And that that gift is a gift that's been given for for every vulnerable child, for every orphan, for every child in foster care, for every birth mom, that is that's struggling in an unplanned pregnancy, for every for every birth dad that's struggling in a in a pregnancy that that that they didn't see coming, for every for every government official that oversees child welfare, for every for every person who who has some chain in the custody of of of keeping children safe.
Rick Morton:God even died for the people that victimized children. And the truth is that we step into into this messy, difficult, sometimes appalling world of vulnerable children where kids are where kids are hurt and kids are victimized. And and we step into it because because we know that the gospel's true. Because we know that Jesus really is who he says he is. That he really did what he said he was gonna do.
Rick Morton:That we know that because we're in Him that that we've been adopted into the family of God. And so we step into that so that children who are vulnerable know that God is for them. We step in and we try to act like our father to take care of them because we want them to know, not just to be safe in this life, but to know that God is their father and that Jesus is their hope and and that they they can find true healing and true restoration in him and him alone. We adopt because we want kids to to grow, to know, and and to follow Jesus. We foster because we want kids to be protected, and we want them to have the opportunity to meet the Savior.
Rick Morton:We we do that around the world. We help churches to engage around the world because we believe that Jesus is our hope. We engage with government because we don't believe that child welfare systems in and of themselves bring redemption. But we believe that every single person that's working in a child welfare system, needs the gospel and is created in the image of God. And so we go into the child welfare system because we wanna see the child welfare system converted to follow Jesus.
Rick Morton:We wanna see people, social workers, and judges, and police officers, and people that are encountered in the child welfare system. We wanna see them know the truth of Jesus, and we want them to follow him. And so everything we do, all that we are as a ministry, all that all that you are and all that you do, we do because because god so loved the world that he sent his one and only son. And that that because we believed in him, because we because we believe that we should tell others that they should believe in him, because He leads us to eternal life and not to death. That's why we do what we do.
Rick Morton:So thanks today for joining us on the Defender Podcast. We love the fact that you journey with us every week as we're walking through the scriptures. And we're thankful for the opportunity that God gives us as a ministry to stop once a week, and to study the scriptures, and to dig into the truth of God's word. Because we believe that in God's word, we we find God's heart, and and we find his counsel, and and we can and we can see and know the mind of God. And so thanks for thanks for going with us into that.
Rick Morton:We would love to help you and and would love to to serve alongside you in any way possible. And so you can find us at lifelinechild.org. The email address info at lifelinechild.org. And we would invite you to pray with us that the lord would use us, that that God would God would use Lifeline to come alongside the church to do, do great, mighty things, in his name. Not because Lifeline is important, not because Lifeline has a right to exist, but ultimately because Jesus is important and and because we're his ambassadors.
Rick Morton:And so I hope you have a great week, and we love you, and we thank you for joining us.
Herbie Newell:Thanks again for joining us for the Defender Bible Study. If you enjoy making this podcast a part of your weekly routine, we'd love for you to take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review the Defender Bible Study to make it easier for more people to find. For more resources and information on how you and your church can partner with Lifeline, please visit us at lifelinechild.org. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter by searching for Lifeline Child. You can email us directly at info at lifelinechild.org.
Herbie Newell:We look forward to seeing you again next week for the defender bible study.