By Pastor William F. Kumuyi

John 8:32-34 “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall ma-ke you free. They answer-ed him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answer-ed them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever co-mmitteth sin is the servant of sin.”

As it was with Nicodemus, that is how it was with the whole nation of Israel; and as it was at that time, so it is today. You can go to any religious circle to give a spiritual discourse on any simple spiritual matter of great significance and all that will be running in the mind of the religious class is to question the credibility of the power of God to save from the yoke and bond-age of sin.

Kumuyi

Job 32:7-9 “I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom. But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them under-standing. Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment.”

Great men of authority, power and position as well as men in religion are not always wise; it was exemplified in the life of Nicodemus and the lives of the other reli-gious and educated leaders. The truth is that people like Nicodemus may have the name and title; they may have the regalia and certificate to match, but their igno-rance of the pathway to heaven is breathtaking!

Isaiah 42:19-20 “Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD’s servant? Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not.”

There is no doubt whom the above scripture is refer-ring to. It is talking about Nicodemus: the sort of people who have gone through the theological school of the Sanhedrin; and as a show of it, hang the certificate by the wall together with the attire of recognition. And all those who cared to be fooled by their performance and antics, end up being swayed and carried away by people that do not even understand the basic fundamental principles of getting to heaven. That is the reason the scriptures adjudged them as blind ser-vants.

If you really want to get to heaven, you must cut the chase after people who glory in titles, position and authority, because your authority should be only the word of God, which says that you must be born again. And though those men of authority do not seem to have a handle on the message of salvation, Jesus will give you that understanding.

Jeremiah 8:8-9 “How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain. The wise men are ash-amed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have reject-ed the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?”

These self-styled religious leaders are not saved from sin, because they have rejected the word and message of God; and their followers, also, are not saved because they are spellbound in believing a lie.

They are not saved because the Nicodemuses that are teaching them only concentrate on the none essen-tial observances of religious rites and ceremonies, with-out having understanding about the usefulness of sal-vation. These gullible many seem not to appreciate the fact that the harvest meant to save their souls is almost coming to an end, because it is about the closing time of the age and we are standing on the threshold of the time of the end of this civilization. This means that in order for their souls to be saved they have to come out from those bread and butter ministries, listen to the single presentation of the soul saving word of God and get their souls won for Christ.

That is why Jeremiah 8:20 says: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”

Ecclesiastes 10:15 “The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.”

Only the wise in Christ will get to the heavenly city of God called the New Jerusalem and you must be born again to get there. Jesus assured the people that are born again, when He said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” Yet, there are many who are labouring in vain in religion because they do not know how to get to the heavenly city.

The startling thing about these unsaved many, who are busy playing the game of religion, is that they are bereft of ideas and do not understand that their Nicodemus who happens to be their preacher, priest and leader is spiritually malnourished and ignorantly dumb of spiritual matters. And to cut the chase, Nicodemus choose to go to Jesus for spiritual guidance and advice in the dead of night and not in broad daylight because he feared a backlash from his followers.