It isn’t the usual thing to associate Jesus with furtive clandestine behaviour.  Yet John’s Gospel chapter 3 could be interpreted in this way.  Here we have the record of a secret meeting between Jesus and a well-known Jewish religious leader called Nicodemus.  Nicodemus was a religious celebrity in his own day.  He didn’t appear to feel it would do his ‘street cred.’ much good if it became known that he wanted to ask an ‘upstart’ carpenter about the meaning of life.  After all he was the equivalent of the Archbishop of Canterbury.  He was supposed to know these things.

Jesus respected the man’s privacy, just as the Bible Text Publicity Mission will respect yours if you want to make further enquires about becoming a Christian.  In His answers Jesus gives some of the most important teaching on the Christian life, the consequences of human sin, the mystery of death and the certainty of eternal life.  If you would like to live forever read on.

Let’s look at some key verses.

3 Jesus replied, "With all the earnestness I possess I tell you this: Unless you are born again, you can never get into the Kingdom of God."
 John 3:3 (Living)

Jesus tells us we need a new nature and that this new nature can be born in us by the power of the Holy Spirit.  He also tells us that we can’t get to Heaven without it.  This may come as a shock to some people.

The next key idea is -

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
 John 3:16 (RSV)