Spirit Tunbridge Study

The speaker discusses the importance of understanding John 3:16 in its context and not just as a standalone verse. They argue that the chapter's division into verses can sometimes create confusion. They highlight the significance of being born again and link it to the concept of water and spirit. They emphasize that the word of God is essential for salvation and that Jesus' teachings should guide how we teach others. The speaker also mentions Nicodemus' encounter with Jesus and the signs that Jesus performed. They suggest studying how Jesus taught people and helping them become disciples. They stress the importance of using the word of God in conversion and following Jesus' teaching methods. There's quite a lot of things in John 3, it's one of my favorite chapters because it was devoted to every one of us in school, John 3:16. And as a result of that, studying John 3, they pluck it, they pluck that out, the denominator, they pluck it out of its content, they take it out of the package altogether and just see the answer, this is what you have to do. But as I read and study John 3 itself, as my brother has pointed out there, three fights. I read a book from the church and it talks about the scriptures being divided into chapters and verses in the 18th to 17th century by uninspired men. When I look at John 3, one of the chapters that was sort of the disadvantage of doing that, if you look at 2: 24-25, it speaks about Jesus' pain, you know, he doesn't have no need for people to testify for him, etc, etc. Then in walks Nicodemus straightaway verses 1. And Nicodemus never asked Jesus a question, but you know the answer, you know the question, but because of the answer Jesus gave, he only prayed, he just came and he said, we know that you are a man of faith, and he's like what we call at home sweet talk. And he said that, then Jesus said to him, you must be born again. That took him by surprise, because how did he know what he was going to ask him, isn't it? So, Jesus said that, then we come down to the, he repeated this very, very essentially, unless you're the one of water and the spirit, you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. Well, water is water, nobody can change water, water is water, but in the spirit, you know, you go to John 6:63   "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." ? Yeah, and it says here, my word is spirit. John 6, he said my word is spirit, but then brother John, brother Mark also quoted one of the verses, Ephesians 5.26, Ephesians 5.26, he says washing with water and the word. Then Ephesians 6, Jesus' word is spirit, he said Jesus' word, yeah, this is John 12.14, Jesus' word is spirit, he said my word is spirit. Ephesians chapter 6, no, Ephesians chapter 5.26, he said washing by the water, by the word, washing the water by the word. You know again, water is water and the spirit is the word of God and again in Ephesians, when he's talking about Ephesians 6.17, it tells you again the word which is the spirit, the soul of the word which is the spirit. So therefore, put those two together, go back to John 3.5, water and spirit. The spirit is the word of Christ. And I've listened to the comments that Mark was speaking there, I didn't know about these initial people, how this sort of thing that comes up with, but it's straightforward, they're clear as crystal. The water is water and the spirit is the word of Christ. You cannot get to heaven without his word. I think that's good reasoning because you're using the scriptures to define words and that to me seems to be the way to go. I think also that one of the things that needs to be seen about this whole setting of John 3 is what is right there in those last verses of chapter 2 and Nicodemus probably was among the crowd that was in Jerusalem who at that particular period of time were observing the signs that Jesus was doing. Now the signs are unnamed, he doesn't tell us what Jesus was doing, but he does tell us that Jesus was working certain signs which people were all observing and then at night time, maybe the same day in which one of those signs Nicodemus might have observed, he came to talk to Jesus. He came to find out more about this sign that he had seen or these signs, plural, that he had seen. And so Jesus taught him. He taught him a metaphor and with some plain teaching as well that would help him tremendously and we see the beginnings of his faith in Christ here. When we decided to study John, the suggestion was made by one of our sisters that maybe we could take time to notice along the way, the way in which Jesus taught people, the way in which Jesus took folks from where they were and helped them migrate to becoming a disciple. And indeed it's true today. People are still converted today and still enter the kingdom of God today the very same way Kenneth has just mentioned. And that is that they must be born of the water and of the Spirit to enter the kingdom of God. And it takes the Word of God. You cannot convert a man without the Word of God because that's the Spirit's instrument. It's the Spirit's sword. It's the Spirit's means by which he communicates God's will to us. And so all of those things put together tell me that if we will let Jesus show us how to teach other people, then our efforts will probably improve significantly. And the people that have to endure our work will probably benefit in much greater ways than they would if we don't follow that pattern. And we're going to see that continue in John 4, John 5, John 6. Everywhere Jesus does his teaching. And our emphasis needs to be as we go through this, I want to teach like Jesus taught. I want to teach what Jesus taught. But I also want to observe his method. I want to think about the way in which he brought people to the kingdom. And that's important to do. Paul, you have your hand up now.