John 03 Round Two: Jesus Truth-Bombs the Wise

A rooftop conversation in the dark. A respected teacher with careful questions. And a startling claim from Jesus that still confronts our assumptions: you must be born again. We walk through John 3 with Nicodemus, tracing the move from head knowledge to heart-level trust and discovering why spiritual life cannot be engineered, only received. The wind image becomes our guide—mysterious, undeniable, and free—inviting us to stop controlling and start surrendering.

We unpack the difference between believing that and believing on Jesus, using a simple chair analogy to make a hard truth accessible: facts don’t save, trust does. When Jesus recalls the bronze serpent from Numbers, he links ancient rescue to a present promise—he will be lifted up so that anyone who relies on him finds eternal life. We linger with John 3:16 and 3:17, exploring God’s love, the purpose of the Son’s mission, and the honest reason many avoid the light. This isn’t about shaming the broken; it’s about healing the willing.

Then we turn to John the Baptist, whose response to shrinking crowds is pure joy. His line—“He must become greater; I must become less”—becomes a map for leaders, creators, and everyday disciples who feel the pull of comparison. We show how humble alignment with Jesus restores purpose, reduces anxiety, and frees us to celebrate someone else’s success without losing our own identity. Along the way, we highlight practical ways to practice real faith: step into the light, place your full weight on Christ, and trade platform-building for presence with the Bridegroom.

If this journey through John 3 stirred your thinking or encouraged your faith, tap follow, share this with a friend, and leave a quick review. Your words help more seekers and skeptics find their way to the conversation.

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Context For John
• 1:49 Why John Writes: Jesus Is God
• 3:12 Nicodemus Meets Jesus At Night
• 5:08 You Must Be Born Again
• 8:13 Light And Darkness Explained
• 10:55 Believing In Versus Believing On

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. Every day, we take one chapter of the Bible, dig deeper, and discover that the more we dig, the more we find. You can find out more at the BibleBreakdown.com. Now let's grow in God's word together. Well, hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, John chapter three. This is going to be absolutely amazing. If I were to give this episode, this chapter, a title, it would be The King Truth Bombs the Wise. I mean, Jesus is just bombing this guy left and right in just a moment. Let me set up the context for you and then we're going to dive into this. But before we do that, I want to make sure you realize, man, I'm so thankful that we read these together. So thankful we're doing this together. And if you've been thankful for the opportunity to do this, make sure that you like, share, and subscribe. These let other people know what we're doing. And my favorite thing is when you go over to our Facebook discussion group and just type in Bible breakdown discussion and let me know what you're getting out of this. Some of you have been digging into this even deeper are just finding some amazing things. I want you to share it with other people. Don't just, don't just send it to me. Man, the more we dig, the more we find. Let's share our passion for God's word together. And the more we dig, the more we find again and again and again. So we're going to dive into this, but remember the context. The apostle John is writing to the church as he's been inspired by the Holy Spirit. And he's saying, Man, you have read the miracles from from Matthew, from Mark, and from Luke. You've heard all of this. Jesus is God. He's telling the truth, church, telling the church, you got to know Jesus is God. Man, I love it. Say it like this. Man, you may have 99 problems, but Jesus ain't one. He is the king and he is God. And if he is the king of all, he can do it all. He can do whatever needs doing. And so that's what John is writing about and making sure we know. Chapter one, he opened that up for us. Chapter two, he talked about the miracles in Cana. Now, chapter three is where it's going to get interesting. Chapter three and chapter four really go together because in chapter three, what we're about to read, Jesus confounds the wise. There's a guy named Nicodemus, he would have been a religious Jewish leader. He would have had most of the first five books of Moses memorized to be part of the Sanhedrin, part of the leaders. They would have had most of that memorized. He would have been just a brilliant person, knowing the law backwards and forwards, very intelligent guy. And he is just baffled by the truth bombs that Jesus is sharing with him. And it is amazing. Chapter four, we're going to read tomorrow. Jesus shares the gospel again, but then next time with someone who is not like that. Someone who is in a different place in life and a different things going on in their life. But he he loves the scholar and he loves the seeker as well. And I absolutely love that. But tucked in the middle is my man Johnny B, who's going to also lay some truth bombs on us as well. So I'm excited. Let's jump in this together. So imagine what's going on in the setting. It's at night, probably on a rooftop somewhere, probably hidden away from everybody else. Nicodemus is very interested in what Jesus is doing, but he's also very interested in his reputation as well. And so he's not wanting other people to see, but he's come at night in this secret place to talk about Jesus. So in hushed voices, Jesus and Nicodemus are having this discourse. And here we go. If you've got your NLT Bible open, kind of imagine it's dark all around you. Got your cup of coffee. Let's dig into this together. The Bible says, John chapter 3, verse 1. There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. Rabbi, he said, we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you. Jesus replied, Hey, I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. What do you mean? exclaimed Nicodemus. How can an old man go back into his mother's womb and be born again? Which, by the way, that's gross. Verse 5. Jesus replied, Oh, the Lord, I assure you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. In other words, yes, he has to have a physical birth. He also needs a spiritual birth. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don't be surprised that I say you must be born again. The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind, but cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can't explain how people must be born of the Spirit. How are these things possible? Nicodemus asks. And I love this. I love Jesus says his verse 10. Wait a minute. You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don't understand these things? I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, yet you won't believe our testimony. But if you don't believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ever gone to heaven and returned, but the Son of Man, Jesus talking about himself, has come down from heaven. As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. By the way, pause. All of my book of Numbers readers, there was the reference to the brazen serpent on a pole in the Old Testament. All right, here's the verse. The gospel in one phrase. For God, for this is how God loved the world. He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life. Now, and this one is my favorite verse. God sent his son into the world, not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him, but anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God's one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact. This is why we get judged. God's light came into the world, but the people love the darkness more than the light, because their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for the fear that their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light, so others can see what they are doing, that they are doing what God wants. Now, what Jesus just said is Jesus just said that we are born in sin, and we are judged for that sin because when the light is revealed, we run to our darkness. But Jesus came to rescue us from that sin, and he's going to take that sin upon himself on the cross. He's going to die and pay the price so that we can have forgiveness. But there's a phrase there that we can kind of get a little confused with if we're not careful, because this phrase has changed over time. Jesus says, this is how the God has loved the world, that he sent his one and only son, so that whoever believes in him. Now, the problem with that word believes is nowadays we use that word to simply know that something is factually true. You know, I believe that I'm sitting in this chair right now. I believe that two plus two is four. But there's a difference between believing in and believing on. Let me say it this way. There's a difference between trusting that something is true and trusting on something. Give you an example. Let's say that you and I were standing in a room and there was a there was a chair right there. And I were to tell you, just kind of picture with me that we're both standing looking at a chair, and I tell you, man, that chair is awesome. That chair is black, that chair has four legs, that chair has a cushion on it, that chair is awesome. And you go, okay, that's great. No, no, no. You don't understand. That chair is amazing. That is the best chair in the entire world. I'm gonna tell you something. You can sit on that chair and that chair will never break. It will never rock around, it'll never squeak. That chair can hold you up. And here's the thing: at some point, you would say to me, prove it. If that chair is so awesome and if that chair is so sturdy, sit on it. Well, there comes the difference. There's a difference between trusting that that chair exists, and it's quite another thing to trust on it, where I'm willing to sit down on that chair. The type of trust, the type of belief that Jesus is talking about here is not a factual belief. The Bible actually says that demons believe that Jesus is God and they tremble. It's not a factual belief, it is a trust in. At some point, what Jesus is saying here that if you want to be forgiven, you have to go beyond a head knowledge and put your hope in. It's the same thing if I can tell you about how awesome that chair is all day long. The difference becomes when I go and I sit and hope that it will hold me up. The good news is Jesus is strong enough for anything you have done in your life. That kind of trust is what's called saving faith. When you trust that Jesus is enough to wash away all your, what he did is enough to wash away all your sins, that is the safe, that is the saving faith that believing in him, then he washes away all of our sin. Okay, let's finish this up. Verse 22. Let's go back to my my Johnny B. Then Jesus and his disciples left Jerusalem after the conversation with Nicodemus and they went into the Judean countryside. Jesus spent some time there with them there and baptizing people. At this time, John the Baptist, Johnny B. was also baptizing in Enon near Salim because there was plenty of water there. The people kept coming to him for baptism. This was before John was thrown into prison, by the way. A debate broke out between John's disciples and a certain Jew over ceremonial cleansing. So John's disciples came to him and said, Rabbi, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you identified as the Messiah, he is also baptizing people, and everyone is going to him instead of coming to us. John replied, No one can receive anything unless God gives it to them from heaven. You yourselves know I plainly told you, I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for him. It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the bridegroom's friend is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success. He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. He has come from above and is greater than anyone else. We are from earth and we speak of earthly things, but he has come from heaven and he is greater than anyone else. He testifies what he has seen and heard, but few believe what he tells them. Anyone who accepts his testimony can affirm that God is true, for he is sent by God. He speaks God's words, and for God gives him the Spirit without limit. The Father loves his son and has put everything into his hands. And anyone who believes in God's Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn't obey the Son will never experience eternal life, but remains under God's angry judgment. You gotta love some Johnny B. I mean, what he's saying is he's is yo, he's he's the talk of the town for a while. Everybody's coming to see the Johnny B show, right? But then the disciples come and they say, wait a minute. You know that guy that you said was the Messiah? Yeah, yeah, son of God, yeah. Well, they're going to see him now. And John's like, well, of course they are. That that means what I'm doing's working. And I love this analogy that he says, you know what? I'm I'm just a friend of the bridegroom. And as the bridegroom and the bride are getting married, as as as God is connecting back to his people, I'm so proud and I'm so full of joy at the success that it's working. He must become greater, and I must become less. I love that so very much. And so I'm curious for you, what did you get out of this chapter? Remember, the overall theme, what John is trying to say to the church, is that Jesus is God. And you may have 99 problems, but Jesus ain't one of them. And what can you learn from this? And that is that Jesus is great and he is awesome, and he is for you and not against you. And so our testimony needs to be like John's. Jesus, become greater and greater, and let my will become less and less. Because the more I know you, the more I love you. I love that so much. Let's pray, and then we'll be done for today. Father, thank you so much that your word is true and that you are good, and that you sent your son into this world because of your great love, and that because of your great love, you came to make everything that was wrong right. I pray that you'll help us to become, yeah, to have you become greater in our life, and for us to be concerned with our lives less and to walk in your glory every day in Jesus' name. Don't forget the reason why this was written in John 20, verse 31. These are written that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that by believing in him, you will have life by the power of his name. I love you. I see you tomorrow for John chapter four.