The Basics of Christianity - Nicodemus (part II)

By Odon Bulamba (summary only)

The Bible says Nicodemus went during the night and as we know it’s not easy to recognize someone’s face in the dark. Walking at night means you are still in sin, it means that when we are in darkness and we need the light. Light helps us to see and when we are in sin before God we are in great darkness, but when we make steps towards God He is always ready to welcome us. Nicodemus came to Jesus and said, “Master, I know that You have come from God as a teacher”. Rabbi or master is a title for God only, never ask people to call you master as it is written in Matthew 23:7-8.

7And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. 8But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.

Here in this verse we can see we are all brothers and have no right to be called masters, even if you teach others, humiliate yourself and call each other brother or sister. Many people want to be called masters so that they will show they are higher than others and know more. Nicodemus was a Rabbi but he found a greater master. He told the Lord, “God sent You to teach us”. This means that when you are taught something you must learn it. As for us Christians who are saved, we must learn and when we learn we will be able to teach. Nicodemus didn’t know everything even though he was a teacher because we can read that he went to Jesus to know more. It means that we all have the right to learn, whether you know the Word of God or not, we must learn everyday. Nobody can say, “I know the Word of God 100%”. No! We need to be taught so we can help others in the future.

In John 3:3 we read that Jesus told Nicodemus something new. Jesus taught Nicodemus about the new birth because Nicodemus was keen to learn. Jesus wanted him to know that he didn’t know everything so He talked to him about the new birth. Why do we read this? God wants us to be equal so we can help each other. If you have a question, ask your brother and this will help us all. The truth is the Word of God. Remember also, the Word of God is God Himself. It is Jesus Himself and Jesus talked to him about the new birth. He told Nicodemus, “you must be born again”.

What do we need in order to be born? In order to be born we first must conceive. If a woman wants a child she must conceive. It is the same with spiritual life. Spiritual life is similar to physical life; the difference is that one is carnal and the other spiritual. If we are married there is one wife and one husband and the two come together and are a couple. Spiritually Jesus is the husband and the church is the wife. This is in Ephesians chapter five.

Nicodemus asked Jesus, “How can I be born again”? Jesus said that “if you stick with what you know you will not enter the kingdom of God”. It means that each Christian who is not born again will not inherit the kingdom of God. You can sing and praise God with joy but unless you are born again you cannot see the kingdom of God.

Try to imagine a great man like Nicodemus. He knew the Law of Moses law by heart but Jesus said to him, “you will not enter the kingdom of God unless you are born again”. Jesus is the husband and the church is the wife. In 1 Corinthians it is written that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, it means we are the church and Jesus is our husband. The church is not the building where people meet together; the church is you and I.

So we need to conceive and after conceiving we must keep this pregnancy for a certain time then there will give birth. As you know when a woman is pregnant they sometimes feel weak, tired or sick. These are all steps in our practical life to the time of birth. When the child is born there is joy for everyone.

So how do we conceive spiritually? When we are taught the Word of God this Word comes into us and touches our hearts. Sometimes we can feel guilty or feel like condemning ourselves. So where will you be tomorrow after your death? Why don’t I believe? What am I doing with my life? What did I gain by stealing? What will I gain if I am a sorcerer? What benefit do I get when I treat others harshly? From your conscious people will start showing you that you are guilty, and then you must change. What you thought was good yesterday doesn’t make sense anymore so you will start conceiving and changing your life style. You start to despise your life because you realize it doesn’t please God.

From here, what you have conceived will start growing. As you know, when a woman is 3-4 months pregnant little things start to appear. If the woman is near the radio she will ask her husband, “darling can you pass me the radio”, if the husband doesn’t obey she becomes upset. They always excuses when they are pregnant.

When we decide to follow Jesus and we have conceived something inside of us, Satan comes and influences us. He’ll start by saying, “I don’t like this”. For example, if Michael doesn’t ring you to go to church you will just cross your arms and do nothing because you just want others to serve you. You have a Bible but you won’t read it unless Oscar is with you. It is exactly the same as the wife with the radio. We like what is easy as days go by but if we are not careful with this pregnancy we could run the risk of losing it. If you have an abortion you lose it completely.

Spiritual abortion can have many causes. In spiritual life it means a Christian can regress and come to nothing. Example: Your behaviour can help a person keep or lose what they have. Some people can say, “Ray is a Christian but because he did this to me I don’t want to pray with him for it is better to be a pagan then to be like Ray the hypocrite”. It means that when the signs of pregnancy are there we must open our eyes and look closely to see what we are doing in life.

How do we do that? We first must make a decision. If someone smokes, giving up is not easy but if someone decides not to smoke then they won’t smoke. When a smoker decides to give up, they don’t smoke around others but when they are alone you can see the smoke come from their bedrooms. Our body can tell us to drink, commit adultery, and hate others, but in the end we make the decision. Once you have decided nothing can draw you back. This is number one and this pregnancy will keep going until birth. When the Bible speaks about the second birth it is birth from above. It is the time when we decide to follow Jesus for the rest of our life on earth.

Nicodemus asked, “How can I go back into my mothers womb?” Jesus said, “You must be born again”. We must not compare spiritual things with physical things. Physically you can be 100 years old but spiritually you are only two months old. Do not think because of your age you are spiritually behind, don’t compare yourself to others. Some people pretend they know everything and will lie to impress others, but for what? People perish from a lack of knowledge. If you don’t know the Word you can be sure you will perish. Ask questions to understand the Word. That is where we can be healed

SUMMARY
- When we are in sin we are in darkness and this is the right time to find Jesus
- We must learn from Jesus and the Bible
- We must ask questions from others when we don't understand
- We must make a decision to follow Christ and sin no more

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