Understanding the Spiritual
A Sermon on John 3:9-13
Originally preached Feb. 3, 1957
Scripture
9Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and …
Sermon Description
In this sermon on John 3:9–13 titled “Understanding the Spiritual,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones focuses on Christ’s late-night conversation with Nicodemus, a Pharisee and religious teacher. Dr. Lloyd-Jones poses a question: What are the reasons to study the character of Christ? The answer, he says, is simple. First, a Christian needs to see how the Lord dealt with another soul. Secondly, a believer needs to read of Christ speaking of eternal destination. What does the Lord reveal about humanity’s eternal destination? A person cannot receive eternal life by themselves. Dr. Lloyd-Jones reminds that only God can accomplish this. This is why Nicodemus could not understand what Christ said to him. He was of his own flesh. Nicodemus tried to meet the Lord as an equal, but no one can. There can be no philosophical debate with Christ, Dr. Lloyd-Jones says. For who has really seen the heavenly things Christ spoke about? No one except the Son. This is where other religions fail, Dr. Lloyd-Jones says. Other religions seek to understand God through human eyes. In Christianity, God reaches down to the sinner, offers His own Son for atonement, and gives whoever believes eternal life.
Sermon Breakdown
- Our utter inability and impotence in understanding spiritual things. We are spiritually blind and lack understanding.
- We must realize we cannot see or understand on our own. We must become as little children.
- The first essential is realizing our total inability in spiritual matters. We cannot understand by our own intellect or logic.
- Nicodemus was spiritually blind despite being a religious leader and teacher. He lacked spiritual understanding.
- We are all born spiritually blind and cannot understand spiritual things on our own. We need spiritual discernment given by God.
- Nicodemus should have understood the need for spiritual rebirth from Scripture like Psalm 51 and Ezekiel 36. But he still did not understand.
- The phenomenon of conversion and being born again is common knowledge and seen throughout history, yet many still do not understand the need for it.
- There is something essentially different about religion and spiritual things versus other areas of life and knowledge. Spiritual understanding is a gift from God, not achieved by human intellect or effort alone.
- If we do not understand the "earthly things" about the new birth and conversion, how can we possibly understand "heavenly things" like the nature of God, sin, salvation, eternity, etc.
- We can know nothing about God, sin, salvation, eternity, etc. apart from divine revelation. We have not ascended to heaven or seen these things. We must listen to the One who has - Jesus.
- Jesus speaks with authority about heavenly things because He has seen them. He knows God directly and shares this knowledge. He is the only One who has seen God and can share Him with us.
- Jesus is the Son of God who came down from heaven. He alone can give us understanding of God, salvation, eternity, etc. We must listen to Him.
- We must stop questioning and arguing and simply listen to and believe in Jesus. He alone has the answers to life's most important questions.
- There is only one thing to do - realize our inability, look to Jesus, believe in Him, surrender to Him, and ask Him to save us, reconcile us to God, and give us eternal life.
Sermon Q&A
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Sermon Questions and Answers: Understanding Salvation in John 3:9-13
What was Nicodemus's main problem in understanding Jesus's teaching?
According to Dr. Lloyd-Jones, Nicodemus's fundamental problem was spiritual blindness. Despite being "the master of Israel," a highly educated religious teacher, he couldn't grasp spiritual truth. When Jesus said, "Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?" He was highlighting that even the most educated religious people can be spiritually blind. Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains: "Here is a master in Israel...a man of understanding, a man of culture, and a highly moral and religious man...when the great central truth is put before him, he doesn't see it. He stumbles, he's baffled, and he asks his question."
What does Dr. Lloyd-Jones mean by "earthly things" versus "heavenly things"?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains that when Jesus refers to "earthly things," He means spiritual truths that can be observed on earth—like regeneration and conversion. These are "earthly" in the sense that they happen to people on earth and can be observed in changed lives. Examples include Paul's conversion and Augustine's transformation. "Heavenly things," on the other hand, refer to deeper theological truths about God Himself, His view of sin, His plan of salvation, and man's eternal destiny. As Lloyd-Jones puts it: "We are concerned about God and his opinion. What is God's view of men in sin? What is God going to do about men in sin? What do you know about it?"
Why is the doctrine of regeneration (being born again) so essential according to this sermon?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones emphasizes that regeneration is essential because humans are spiritually blind and incapable of understanding spiritual truth without divine intervention. No amount of education, morality, or religious knowledge can substitute for being born again. He states: "So many think they can make themselves christian, holding certain views, living a good life. Not doing this, doing that, that makes you Christian. No. You must be born again. You must be born of the spirit. A mighty act by the spirit of God must be worked down in the very depths and vitals of the personality."
What is the significance of Jesus saying "no man hath ascended up to heaven"?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains that this statement emphasizes our complete inability to know God through our own efforts. No human has ever ascended to heaven to gain direct knowledge of God. The only authoritative source about God is Jesus Christ, who "came down from heaven." As Lloyd-Jones puts it: "How does he know? What has he seen? How has he had the vision? Where does he derive his understanding? And he tells Nicodemus plainly and simply, here is one who has come down from heaven." This makes Jesus uniquely qualified to speak with authority about salvation and God's nature.
How does Dr. Lloyd-Jones explain the uniqueness of Christianity compared to other religions?
According to Dr. Lloyd-Jones, the uniqueness of Christianity is that it's not about humans seeking God, but God reaching down to humans through Jesus Christ. He states: "Every other religion is man's attempt to find and to discover God. Here God himself has sent out his own son into the world in the form of a man in order to give us the light and in order to rescue and to redeem us." Christianity is unique because it's based on divine revelation through Jesus rather than human philosophical speculation about God.
What does Dr. Lloyd-Jones identify as the proper response to Jesus's teaching?
The proper response is to stop questioning and simply listen to Jesus with humility. Lloyd-Jones says: "There is only one appropriate attitude for men, and that is on his knees in utter confession of failure that he's baffled, that he's ignorant." Then we must believe Jesus's message and surrender our lives to Him: "There is only one thing to do...and that is to believe him, to believe his message, to surrender our lives to him, and to ask him to deal with us, to save us and to reconcile us and to introduce us to God."
How does Lloyd-Jones explain what Jesus meant when he said "we speak that we do know"?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones points out that Jesus speaks with absolute authority, unlike other teachers. Jesus doesn't present theories, quote authorities, or offer tentative conclusions. Instead, He speaks with firsthand knowledge of God: "He just stands up and says, 'Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time. But I say unto you, we speak that which we do know.'" This is because Jesus has direct knowledge of the Father: "He has seen God. He is talking about God. And he says it's not hearsay, it's not theory, it's not secondhand information. I am speaking what I have seen."
The Book of John
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.