John 3:1-16: “Jesus Tells
Nicodemus About The New Birth Then How God So Loved The World That He Gave His
Only-Begotten Son”
By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study we looked
at Jesus driving the money-changers.
1.1.1. We saw that it was only
natural that Jesus would drive the money-changers out of the temple because of
the zeal that He had for the Lord, the zeal that it was prophesied that the Messiah
would have.
1.2.
In our study today, we are going to look at verses 1-16 of chapter 3.
1.2.1. In our previous two studies,
we saw that the apostle John who has written this spiritual gospel in which he had
sought to more fully explain the spiritual nature of Jesus, Jesus’ work, and
Jesus’ teachings, had explained that Jesus began His ministry by performing His
first miracle of turning water into wine at a joyous wedding celebration. This miracle prophetically portrayed the
love, compassion, and mercy of God. The
next study revealed an opposing characteristic of God’s nature. When Jesus in great zeal for the Lord and His
worship drove those who sold animals and the money changers out of the temple,
this revealed the fact that God is totally holy, righteous, and just and must
punish sin. We observed last week that
these two stories were combined by John to reveal to men something which is
essential to understand about God, if we are to understand His ways. God is loving and merciful and doesn’t want
to punish us. However, because He is
also holy and just He must punish all sin.
Understanding these two opposing characteristics of the Lord helps us to
see why Jesus had to come and die upon the cross for the sins of mankind, to
pay the debt of our sin so that we might be forgiven and then enter into loving
and interactive fellowship with the Lord through Jesus Christ.
1.2.2. In our study today, we see
that this is the first time in John’s gospel that we find Jesus teaching. We would think that the first thing that John
writes about of Jesus’ teaching would be something that is essential and
fundamental for His disciples to learn, and it is. What Jesus teaches here to a man named
Nicodemus is the fact that in order to come to know the Lord one must be born
again, born of God, or born spiritual. A
person must become a new creation through spiritual birth.
1.2.3. Notice, that Jesus does not
begin by teaching about morality or ethical judgment first. The reason this is so is because a person
cannot truly be changed working from the external. To work from the outside in on a person does
not cause the type of transformation that God requires in order to come to know
Him and His ways. If God were to work
from the outside in in our lives then this would overthrow the concept that a
man is saved by grace, and salvation would be something a person could achieve
by His works. But, this is not how God
begins to work in our lives. We must
first be born again and have a total regeneration of every aspect of our lives,
and it is only then that we can begin to live righteously and in a God pleasing
way on the external of our lives.
1.2.4. In our fellowship here after
9/11 we had a few people begin attending our fellowship who had previously been
unchurched. However, the events of 9/11
caused them to sort of wake up and begin to realize that they had better find
out about God and start living like He wants them to live because things seem
to be leading towards His return and the apocalyptical events that will happen
at that time. However, at our home
fellowship one night soon after they started attending one of the women said
that she was coming to the church but that she just wanted to learn about God
and the Bible she didn’t want to get saved and have us talk about her making a
commitment to the Lord. The rest of
these new comers to a man spoke in agreement with her. I didn’t really pursue the subject with them
at that time for fear that they might leave.
However, what I was hoping to say to them one day was the fact that this
is where you have to start in coming to understand who God is. In fact it is essential because the
scriptures tell us in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “14 But a natural
man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” You have to be born again first to understand
spiritual truth.
1.2.5. So, we will see in our study
today, that John in writing this spiritual gospel begins right away in not only
explaining what is essential to know about the nature of the Lord, but also
about what one must do in order to come to know God and receive eternal life
through faith in Christ.
1.2.6. In this study we will see
that a man named Nicodemus who was a leader in
1.2.6.1.Nicodemus’ expectation was
that the Messiah would come as a conquering political Messiah, however Jesus
revealed to him that He has come first as the conqueror of men’s hearts.
1.2.6.2.Jesus tells Nicodemus that
if he wants to enter His kingdom he must first be born again.
1.2.7. We are going to look at
Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus about being born-again and see how that
Jesus merged the conversation into talking about how that the Father loved
mankind so much that He sent His only-begotten Son so that we might not perish
but have everlasting life.
1.2.8. We will see that Jesus
rebukes Nicodemus for his lack of understanding of God’s purposes and word.
1.2.9. Jesus tells Nicodemus of the
Father’s heart in being willing to give that which had the greatest value in
all of the universe, His Son, so that mankind might not perish for eternity,
but have eternal life through Jesus Christ.
1.2.10.Nicodemus’ story depicts the
failure of religion to bring people to the know the Lord or transform the true
spiritual nature and character.
Nicodemus’ spiritual blindness and slowness to understand simple
spiritual truths reveals men’s need of a spiritual transformation or spiritual
birth in order to understand spiritual truth.
1.2.11.There are other accounts of
this man Nicodemus in John’s gospel, and he is referred to always as the man
who came to Jesus by night. We believe
that Nicodemus is numbered among Jesus’ disciples because in chapter 7 he
intercedes for Jesus to the counsel of the Jews and it says that Nicodemus “was
one of them,” and then in chapter 19 he brings myrr and aloes to the tomb
for mummifying Jesus’ body.
2.
VS 3:1-2 - “Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man
came to Him by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You have come from
God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do
unless God is with him’.” - John tells us that a Pharisee named Nicodemus
came to Jesus secretly by night to inquire of Him
2.1.
Being a ‘ruler of the Jews’ means that
Nicodemus was a member of the ruling body in
2.2.
John’s account of this story does not delve into the
motives of Nicodemus in coming to Jesus, however as we read this account plus
the rest of the accounts of this man’s life from the New Testament we can learn
some things about him. First of all, he
was curious about Jesus and wanted to know more about Him and His mission and
calling, and, in effect, wanted to know if He was the Messiah. He is sincere and open with Jesus, qualities
that for the most part were lacking amongst the religious leaders of the
nation.
2.3.
Nicodemus came to Jesus at night because he was afraid
of the ridicule he might incur if his Pharisaic friends saw Him inquiring of
Jesus. Isn’t it ironic that when God
sends His Messiah to His people that the religious leaders of His people will
not come directly to this man to inquire of Him and that the only one who does
in sincerity come to Him comes secretly so that he will not be seen of man and
become labeled and black-balled for coming?
2.4.
Nicodemus calls Jesus, ‘Rabbi,’ and by doing
this acknowledges Him to be a ‘teacher” sent from the Lord, but he does
not acknowledge Jesus as being the Messiah.
2.5.
Nicodemus acknowledges of Jesus ministry that He must
be of God, for no one could do the signs (healings, etc.) that Jesus did,
unless God was at work through His life.
This fact is true and shows some spiritual discernment. The sad part is that if this fact is widely
understood then men have no excuse for no seeking Jesus out to find out if He
in fact might be the Messiah, the One in whom is the hope of
2.6.
Since Nicodemus uses the phrasing ‘we know,’ he
reveals that the general consensus among the Sanhedrin, after their inquiry in
the previous chapter of John the Baptist, is that God must somehow be working
through Jesus’ ministry and life.
2.7.
Jesus immediately diffuses Nicodemus’ expectations of
Jesus being the conquering Messiah that the Jews were looking for by teaching
him of how His kingdom must be accepted.
Jesus was not at this time coming as the conquering Messiah to rule over
the earth, rather His kingdom was to be received individually via a complete
spiritual rebirth. His first coming was
to conquer the hearts of men and be the suffering Messiah who would pay for the
sins of the world upon the cross of
3.
VS 3:3-4 - “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the
3.1.
Notice that Jesus does not even wait for Nicodemus to
ask Him a question but interrupts him and immediately goes about answering the
question that ought to be asked and that really mattered, how one can come to
know the Lord and understand spiritual truth.
3.1.1.
Isn’t it wonderful that the Lord always gets down to
the root of the problems in our life.
He helps us to eradicate the things that are weighing us down spiritually
by dealing with the real issues in our lives in a real way.
3.2.
When Jesus tells Nicodemus that no one can ‘see the
kingdom of God’ without being born again, what He is really saying is that
you cannot have spiritual eyes so as to see spiritual truth, as is the case
with the natural man we discussed earlier, without first being born again. This internal transformation is what is
needed to see the things pertaining to His kingdom, one must be born again by
the Spirit of God.
3.3.
Nicodemus was confounded by Jesus’ reply to his
question, and his response is almost laughable for its naiveté, but the fact
that his response also reflects the spiritual blindness and inability of the
nation to understand spiritual truth is sad indeed.
3.4.
Nicodemus evidently was a fairly old man because in
response to Jesus’ statement about the necessity of being born again, he asks
Jesus how an ‘old’ man could enter into his mother’s womb and be born
again.
3.5.
A transformation of character such as Jesus spoke of seemed
quite inconceivable to one who had spent his life learning how that people
never seem to change, and how that no matter how hard one may try to live a
righteous life, there is an undercurrent that is out of his control which pulls
him into the depths of sin.
3.6.
What does it mean to be ‘born again’
though?
3.6.1.
People in this world do not like to hear this phrase,
and I have seen Christians and the Christian faith attacked and ridiculed
greatly because of this phrase. However,
this attitude by people in this world is one based upon ignorance, and it is
not surprising that such an essential truth as this would be ridiculed since
the Devil would love for us to merely relegate our preaching to the doing of
good works and acting like a Christian on the outside of our life.
3.6.2.
It isn’t merely the gaining of a different attitude or
perspective.
3.6.3.
It isn’t the performance of any external rite or the
acceptance of membership.
3.6.4.
It isn’t anything that we do on the outside of our
life.
3.6.5.
It means to have imparted to us a new spiritual nature
and to be connected spiritually to the Lord Himself through the Holy
Spirit. It is to have Divine presence to
come inside one’s body and bring regenerating influence to the heart, mind,
soul, will, emotions, etc.
3.6.5.1.I have heard
a few different illustrations for this act within a person and all of them are
lacking to a degree, as is the case with any illustration. For instance, an ugly leaf eating caterpillar
goes into a cocoon only to emerge as a beautiful butterfly who now has wings
and is able to fly and survives by the eating of nectar. However, the lack in this illustration is
that this transformation does not occur for the caterpillar because of the
infusion of spiritual life itself nor because of becoming connected spiritually
and brought into fellowship with another higher being.
3.6.5.2.By the way,
we have to continue the process of renewal in our lives by reading God’s word
and allowing our thought life to be continually transformed in that process of
reading, prayer and fellowship with the Lord, as we seek to walk in faith and
obedience to the Lord. We as Christians
tend sometimes to be like a butterfly that goes back and begins eating leaves,
getting sick in the process, and we let our wings get corroded which causes us
to crash and burn a lot.
4.
VS 3:5-6 - “Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to
you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
4.1.
There has been much debate as to what being ‘born
of water’ means in this passage.
4.1.1.
Some have incorrectly tried to make the argument for
the necessity of water baptism by using this phrase.
4.1.2.
However, one must be careful to look at the whole of
scripture before interpreting an individual passage. If the ‘lake of truth’ in scripture concerning
a doctrine flows in one direction and one particular section of scripture seems
to flow against that flow, then that section needs to be interpreted according
to the flow because God does not contradict Himself and His word is inerrant.
4.1.2.1.Well, first
of all, we have to look at the several instances in the gospels where Jesus
told men that their sins were forgiven them.
They received salvation right there and then with no mention of baptism. The most convincing example of this is the
thief on the cross who definitely was not baptized before his death, and yet
Jesus promises him an eternity in paradise.
He is in hell today if you need to be baptized in order to go to heaven.
4.1.2.2.Then, in the
book of Acts there was the family of Cornelius upon whom the Spirit of God fell
while Peter was still preaching the gospel to them. They were first born again by the Holy
Spirit, and then Peter decided that if the Lord had already accepted them to
salvation, they might just as well be baptized in water also.
4.1.2.3.Simon Magus
had been baptized in water, yet was not saved at all, yet if the water procures
the new birth any that have been baptized in water by the church must have
received it.
4.1.2.4.Paul
mentions in 1 Corinthians that the Lord had sent him not to baptize but to
preach the gospel, yet if salvation comes through water baptism Paul would have
baptized every convert immediately.
4.1.2.5.If water
baptism were a necessity for salvation, or brought about the new birth (the
doctrine of baptismal regeneration), then the word of God would not mention it
so seldom.
4.2.
Most solid Bible teachers believe that to be ‘born
of water’ means either:
4.2.1.
Physical birth which is accompanied by a water sack
which bursts during childbirth. A couple
of gallons of water is issued whenever a child is born.
4.2.1.1.If this
explanation is correct, then it is also consistent with the second verse in
this section which says ‘that which is born of the flesh is flesh,’ in
contrast to the birth of the Spirit.
4.2.2.
The washing of our sins through repentance to walk a
new life, that of which water baptism is a mere symbol (when understood
correctly).
4.3.
Arthur Pink makes a good argument for the phrase ‘born
of water’ meaning the word of God, bringing out for instance the fact
that:
4.3.1.
We know that the word of God is spoken of as being
spiritually as water, as seen for instance in Ephesians 5:25-26, “25 Husbands,
love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for
her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the
washing of water with the word.”
4.3.2.
Being born again and having saving faith in general
comes from the word of God:
4.3.2.1.1 Peter
1:23, “23 for you have been born again not of seed which is
perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word
of God.” Notice the corollary to
this verse in 1 John 3:9 which reveals that John was thinking of the word of
God as being that seed that resides in the true believer’s heart and causes him
not to walk in sin, “9 No one who is born of God practices sin,
because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”
4.3.2.2.Romans
10:17, “17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the
word of Christ.”
4.4.
I would ask you to consider your own life here for a
minute:
4.4.1.
God’s kingdom is built upon those who have let Him
reign in their hearts. Does He reign as
master in your heart?
4.4.2.
Have you been born again?
4.4.3.
Are you really living this regenerated life in the
Holy Spirit?
4.4.4.
Are you a new creature and all things really new in
your life as 2 Cor. 5:17 says that it should be when a person is in Christ?
5.
VS 3:7-8 - “‘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 it, but do not know where it comes
from and where it is going; so is
everyone who is born of the Spirit’.” - Jesus tells Nicodemus not to be surprised
that a person must be born again, for the wind is an illustration of how the
Spirit works in a believer’s life
5.1.
Nicodemus,
as a representative of religion and the religious ruling body of his day, shows
his lack of spiritual insight by marveling here at these simple truths that
Jesus tells him. We can imagine him
having his jaw drop and remain wide open after Jesus tells him these
things. These truths revealed to Nicodemus
by Jesus are profound to him and he is stunned to hear things that are so
foreign to the religious discussions and teachings he has heard his entire
life.
5.2.
Jesus tells Nicodemus not to marvel about something which
he can’t really understand very well because the Spirit’s working is
mysterious, much like the mysterious nature of the wind.
5.3.
No one really knows much about how and from where
winds blow and originate, and, wind is invisible. Yet, we do believe that wind does in fact
exist for we see the effects of wind every single day. In the same way, the Spirit of God works upon
the souls of men and produces God’s effect upon them.
5.4.
Just like the fact of the existence of the wind, we don’t
understand all of the ways in which the Holy Spirit has worked and what all He
may be doing in a person’s life, yet His work is unmistakable.
6.
VS 3:9-14 - “Nicodemus answered and said to Him, ‘How
can these things be?’ Jesus answered and
said to Him, ‘Are you the teacher in
6.1.
Nicodemus questions Jesus about how that there could
be such a thing as a news new birth and Jesus rebukes him for being ‘the
teacher of Israel’ yet having such a great lock of knowledge of scripture
and of God Himself. Nicodemus being a
teacher of
6.2.
The scripture prophesied the new birth:
6.2.1. In Ez. 36:25-27 we read about the new
birth that was prophesied for believers,
“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from your filthiness and
from all your idols. Moreover, I will
give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from
your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes
and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
6.2.2. Likewise, scripture had prophesied in Joel 2:28-29 about the Holy Spirit
doing a work in God’s people’s lives one day when the Messiah would come, “And it will
come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. And even on the male and female servants I
will pour out My Spirit in those days.”
6.3.
When Jesus says ‘we speak that which we know,’
the ‘we’ most likely refers to Himself and His disciples. Jesus is teaching that which he “knows”
to be truth. This is really the key to
being a good teacher, you have to know what you are talking about. When you are foggy on an issue, you will not
be able to clearly communicate to others that which you teach them about the
issue.
6.4.
Jesus tells Nicodemus that if he can’t understand this
basic concept (or earthly things) of being ‘born again,’ which is a
first principle of spiritual truth for new converts, then he will not be able
to understand any deeper ‘spiritual’ truths (or heavenly things).
6.4.1. These
earthly things in our lives are the practical application of the truth of God’s
word that we are to make in our life.
Our lack of understanding of God and His truth is always the result of
our not applying God’s truth in the practical areas of our life as He wants us
to do, and to our shame as Christians we are all lacking to some degree in our
understanding of spiritual truth.
6.5.
Jesus will now go on to speak of that which the gospel
message of salvation consists, and this section contains deep spiritual nuggets
of truth.
6.6.
In the last section of this passage, Jesus reveals the
basis of authority He has in being able to teach deep spiritual truths to
Nicodemus. Jesus was pre-existent before
anything was created, He ‘descended from heaven’ and thus His revelation
is divine.
6.7.
Jesus is the eternal Son of God from all eternity,
although here He uses that title for Himself that somewhat obscured His real
identity, ‘Son of man.’
6.8.
In the NASB translation a phrase is left out of verse
13 that should be there, one that is in the Majority Text manuscript, the most
reliable of the manuscripts. The NKJV
translates verse 13, thus, “13 No one has
ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of
Man who is in heaven.” Notice from this verse then that another
quality of Jesus is revealed from this text, He says that the Son of Man, ‘is
in heaven.’ Jesus is omnipresent
even at that moment in time, existing both in heaven and upon the earth.
7.
VS 3:14-15 - “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever believes may in Him have eternal
life.” - Jesus tells Nicodemus how that He (Jesus)
must be lifted up upon the cross of
7.1.
Speaking to Nicodemus, Christ now diverges into the ‘heavenly
things’ of the deeper truths of God’s revelation of Himself to man.
7.2.
The Moses reference here points to an almost bizarre
and yet a most interesting story in Old Testament history which occurred in
Numbers chapter 21. When the people of
7.2.1. The
symbolisms are many in this story of the bronze serpent:
7.2.1.1.The curse of
the serpents comes from the Lord, as the curse of the law which convicts of sin
comes from the Lord.
7.2.1.2.The bites of
serpents is symbolic of the effects of sin in our lives.
7.2.1.3.The venom
running through ones veins with a burning of fire is symbolic of the guilt of
sin.
7.2.1.4.The
descendants of Adam are referred to in Genesis 3 as the seed of the serpent so
the serpent itself also refers to fallen man.
7.2.1.5.The Lord
directed Moses to have the people make a bronze image of a serpent to place
upon a pole, not to actually place one of the serpents on the pole. The image of that serpent represents Christ
Himself as He who took on the form of man so that he could as man take the
punishment on the cross for our sins which we deserved. He had to become a man (descendant of Adam)
in order to qualify to be a proper substitute for us, you see.
7.2.1.6.The serpent
raised up is symbolic of the cross of Christ upon which He was raised upon.
7.2.1.7.The fact
that the image of the serpent was to be made of bronze symbolized the fiery
judgment of God (just like the altars and utensils used in the temple for burnt
offerings as sacrifices for sin), and the hardness of bronze symbolized that
though Christ would suffer and die upon that cross that He would not be totally
destroyed but would endure.
7.2.1.8.The serpent
was given out of God’s mercy because the people deserved death as the wages of
their sin, and the salvation procured by Christ comes completely by God’s grace
and mercy as a gift (not by works).
7.2.1.9.One had
simply to make one quick glance at the raised serpent in order to be healed,
just as a person has only to look in faith to Jesus and what He did on the cross
and then pray a simple sinner’s prayer of saving faith in order to be
saved.
7.2.1.10.It was by
faith in God’s word that He would heal them that prompted the Israelites to
look up at the serpent, just as it is simply by faith in God’s word of
salvation through Christ that men are saved by looking to Jesus.
7.2.1.11.The looking
up at a serpent is somewhat of a silly thing to do in the eyes of men, much as
the preaching of the gospel is foolishness to the men of this world.
7.2.1.12.Because of
pride, disbelief, and arrogance many in Israel chose not to look up at the
serpent and thus were not healed, and for the same reasons men do not believe
in the message of the gospel today even though God has promised salvation to
all who believe in Christ.
8.
VS 3:16 - “For God so loved the world, that He gave
His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have
eternal life.” - Jesus tells Nicodemus of the great love that
the Father in heaven had that He would be willing to give His only-begotten Son
that men should not perish
8.1.
Its such an astonishing thing, the great love of
God. He loves ‘the whole world’
with such a great and powerful love.
8.2.
This is a world that is ‘perishing’ because of
their sin, and the Lord would have been justified to simply leave men under the
condemnation of their sins, however He loved men to the point that He Himself
was willing to provide the full payment for their sins.
8.3.
God didn’t love men when they were deserving in any
way of His love, nor after they had tried to clean up their lives and thus were
lovely, as Paul has written to us in Romans 5:8, “8 But God
demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us.”
8.4.
The extent of the Father’s love is seen in that He
gave His ‘only-begotten Son.’
8.4.1. It would
have been a great act of love if God had merely forgiven men their sins, even
if He then would never have anything to do with us again.
8.4.1.1.However, God
is righteous and just, and He could not have forgiven sins if justice were not
carried out against those who have transgressed His laws. Every government has to have justice to
punish law breakers in order for it to exist, and so must the
8.4.1.2.Plus,
through salvation in Christ we are justified (made in God’s sight just as if we
had never sinned) and brought into wonderful fellowship with Him.
8.4.2. An even
greater act if He had given an angel for payment.
8.4.2.1.They one who
would qualify to be the sin bearer and pay the price for the sins of mankind
must be a kinsman redeemer, and thus an angel would not qualify. Jesus had to be made 100% man and 100% God to
pay that price for mankind’s sins.
8.4.3. But no, He
gave His only-begotten Son, He who was eternally one with Himself.
8.4.4. If would
have been a great act of love if God had merely ‘sent’ His son, but He
didn’t just ‘send’ His Son, He ‘gave’ His Son to be a sacrifice,
and there are no words to describe the horrors of the cross on which Jesus
suffered, both in terms of pain and anxiety but also of shame and
humiliation.
8.4.5. It might
have been a great act of love if God had given His Son for those who tried to
do the right things and serve Him, but He gave His Son for all men, even those
who despised and spurned Him.
8.4.6. There was no
evil deed to which He did not provide for forgiveness through Christ’s death on
the cross, and no one who would come to Him for salvation whom He would turn
away.
8.4.7. God’s love
is also seen in what was procured for all the men and women of the world if
they would believe, ‘eternal life.’
8.4.7.1.This is not
a life to be lived with God after this life is finished, rather it is the
highest quality of life that a man or woman could ever live.
8.4.7.2.It is a life
of joy and peace in the Spirit of God, a life which will continue for eternity
after this life.
8.4.7.3.In the after
life of ‘eternal life’ there will be no more crying and tears, but
rather constant joy.
9.
CONCLUSION:
9.1.
Have you truly been born again, born of the Spirit? Do you know the reality of walking in
spiritual union and fellowship with the Lord?
9.2.
How much spiritual understanding do you have in your
life? How much do you understand of the
truth of God’s word? Is there anything
in your life that is hindering your growth in spiritual understanding and needs
removing?
9.3.
Isn’t it a blessing for you to realize just how much
the Lord loves you, as demonstrated by His giving of His only begotten Son for
you?