In Matthew chapters 5, 6, 7, Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, what we call the Beatitudes. This is one of the longest recorded sermons of the Lord Jesus himself. In these three chapters, our Lord covers just about every area of the believer’s life.
In verse one of chapter five, we see His observation of the people: “And seeing the multitudes.” Jesus is always interested in the large numbers of people because His reason for coming to this earth, was, the people. Everywhere He went multitudes of people thronged Him, just to hear what He had to say. His words were important and powerful to the multitudes of common folks, but were usually hated by and convicting to the religious hierarchy. Jesus came to this earth to save the world, but most of the time it was one person at a time. So, even though He was interested in getting His message to as many people as He could, he was never too busy for one individual. I’m reminded of Nicodemus in John 3, who was a very important man, “a ruler of the Jews.” He came to Jesus one night in secret with a burning question that he had to ask, but he asked it in the way of a state-ment, John 3:2 “The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.”
Nicodemus was like a lot of folks then and now; curious about the claims of Jesus: is He the Savior who he says He is? “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” And, can, and will He do what He says? He had heard Jesus preach, and had apparently seen many of His miracles; “no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with Him.”
I believe this is a moment of deep soul searching and he must have an answer.
In verses 3 and following, Jesus answers his question, ”Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” In verse 4, this ruler of the Jews is still confused as he says, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” He could not separate the physical from the spiritual, just like many today. They think by their physical works or, acts, they can be accepted by God. In verses 5-7, Jesus clarifies the truth that Nicodemus needed to make a life changing decision; “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Then He separates the two births in verse 6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; (the water birth when a baby is first born into this fleshly life) and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (a Spirit birth, the only kind of birth a man can have when he is old). It is brought about by the Spirit of God, and it changes our nature. Paul makes that clear in 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things have passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (A new birth, a radical change).
Jesus had a people ministry. He was interested in all people, and has now, just as He did then, a compassionate heart toward them: Matthew 9:36 “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” To be continued...