February 11: Something You Must Do

Have you ever heard someone argue that, since salvation is all of grace, not of works, and believing is something you do, belief is a work? Belief becomes unnecessary. To answer, we could say that, since thinking is something you do, you cannot even think about salvation. However, the Bible clearly says faith is not a work. As Romans 4:4-5 states, "Now to the one who works, pay is not considered a gift, but as something owed. But to the one who does not work, but believers on Him who declares righteous the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness" (HVSB). So what must we do?

Wiley Richards is a retired professor of theology and philosophy at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville.

•To begin, we must come to the right person (vv. 1-2). At the time Jesus lived, as is true today, many competing individuals claimed to have correct knowledge about how to experience ultimate reality. Some advocated secret knowledge while others emphasized correct rituals. The Jews counted on their being God's Chosen People. Nicodemus, not satisfied with his legalism, secretly came to Jesus to learn how Jesus could perform miracles. Whatever his reasons, he came to the only Person who could meet his spiritual needs. His statement really was an inquiry about Jesus' power.

•A second lesson is, those who come to hear what Jesus says must learn to listen carefully (vv. 3-4). Jesus shocked Nicodemus with His assertion that he needed a new birth. Without a change in his nature, he had no spiritual equipment to behold the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus realized that Jesus considered him to be outside the Kingdom, a condition the Pharisee thought he already possessed. After all, he was a part of God's Chosen People, or so he thought.

•Jesus then led him to weigh the evidence (vv. 5-8). He explained that the birth from above did not parallel one's natural birth. Had Nicodemus been born of his mother a second time he would still be the same person. A natural birth brings forth a natural birth because flesh begets flesh. Sensing that Nicodemus did not grasp His meaning, Jesus reminded him he experienced the wind without understanding how and why it blows. To understand the new birth, he only needed to experience it.

•In leading Nicodemus on the journey to saving faith, He asked him to consider the substitute (vv. 13-15). To illustrate His point, Jesus reminded Nicodemus of an event in Israel's time of wandering recorded in Numbers 21:5-9. When Israel rebelled against Moses' leadership, God sent poisonous snakes among them. The viper's bite was fatal. After the people repented, God instructed Moses to construct a brass serpent to be suspended from a pole. A bitten person could look at the brass serpent and be healed. Jesus informed Nicodemus He would be lifted up. Anyone believing in Him would have eternal life. Nicodemus beheld the fulfillment at Jesus' crucifixion.

•Finally, to be saved one must believe in Jesus (vv. 16-18). To believe means to trust, rely on, or commit oneself to Jesus. Anyone believing in Him has eternal life (v. 16). Jesus assured Nicodemus of God's willingness to receive him into the Kingdom because He came to open the gates of heaven to believers, not to condemn the world (v. 17). If people are lost, it is because they refuse to believe in "the name of the One and only Son of God."