Sunday Gathering - John 3 : 1-21 - Cornelius Tanis - Sermon Only

Cornelius preaches on John 3:1-21, opening by asking the congregation for the most iconic verse in the Word of God. The answer comes straight back — John 3:16 — and he asks who can say it in another language. Then the passage is read: Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council, comes to Jesus at night, calls him a teacher who has come from God, and is told that no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.

He calls the passage the carnal mind against the Spirit — Nicodemus’s intellect set against Jesus speaking in the Spirit, the two talking past each other, Nicodemus understanding almost none of it. The Pharisees were the learned, the ruling class in Jerusalem; they knew the Torah, the prophets and the traditions, and had added many laws. Nicodemus came at night because he did not want to be seen. “You must be born again,” Jesus says, three times, prefaced by “very truly”.

What kingdom is he talking about? Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar’s dream: a statue of gold, silver, bronze, iron and clay standing for successive kingdoms, struck down by a rock not cut out by human hands, which grows until it fills the earth. Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome have all gone; the kingdom of England will pass too, but God’s kingdom will not. And you cannot join it by effort. He was not born in England, so he has to work for citizenship — but nobody earns their way into God’s kingdom, because you are born into it.

The Pharisees knew an enormous amount about God, and missed that Abraham, Moses, David and the prophets had something else: relationship. Abraham walked with God; Moses was called at the burning bush and stood before God daily in the tabernacle; the prophets were in contact with him. The Pharisees studied God without knowing him, and many people do the same. It is not about works but the heart, and it is vertical. Then the bronze snake: Israel complained, venomous snakes came, and God told Moses to lift a bronze snake on a pole — look at it and be healed. Nothing to do, no medicine. Cornelius, who lived in Mozambique among venomous snakes, is emphatic that salvation by works does not exist. Likewise the Son of Man was lifted up, and simply looking at the cross saves. He quotes 2 Corinthians 5:21 and lands on John 3:16, which holds everything: God’s love, the gift of his Son, and eternal life for whoever believes.

Bible passages

• John 3:1-21 — the passage for the morning, read in full
• John 3:16 — the verse the sermon opens and ends on
• John 3:14-15 — “just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up”
• Numbers 21:4-9 — the bronze snake on the pole, and healing for those who looked at it
• Daniel 2:31-45 — Nebuchadnezzar’s dream: the statue of metals, and the rock not cut by human hands
• John 6:63 — “the Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing”
• John 6:44 — “no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them”
• Romans 10:10 — “with your heart you believe”
• James 3:1 — teachers will be judged more strictly (attributed by the speaker to Paul)
• 2 Corinthians 5:21 — “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us”
• 2 Corinthians 5:17 — “the old has gone, the new has come”

Key points

• Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a council member, comes to Jesus at night so as not to be seen
• The Pharisees knew the law, the prophets and the traditions, and had added many laws
• The passage is the carnal mind against the Spirit: they talk past one another
• “You must be born again” — said three times, and prefaced by “very truly”
• Daniel’s statue of metals stands for kingdoms that all pass away; the rock is God’s kingdom
• You are born into God’s kingdom; you cannot earn or study your way in
• The Pharisees knew about God; Abraham, Moses and the prophets knew him
• It is not about works but the heart, and it is vertical
• The bronze snake: nothing to do, only look and be healed — and likewise the cross
• Salvation by works does not exist; it is the grace of God
• John 3:16 holds it all: God’s love, the gift of the Son, eternal life for whoever believes
• His own story: peace and joy, then persecution and lost friends, then conviction over his parents
• His parents had been praying for him, which is how prayer and salvation connect
• In Africa he prayed and fasted for children nobody prayed for; on the thirteenth day three were born again
• The cross is a gate, not a place to stand still — the beginning of the new life

Calls to action

• Come forward if you feel that burning in your heart — if you have never been born again
• Come forward to pray and stand in agreement for loved ones who are not saved
• Pray for your loved ones: your prayer is the beginning of their salvation
• Look to the cross — no works, no penance, simply look and be saved
• Take up your own testimony — forty years on, look at what God has done

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/OtvTK7HO3PI