Jesus and Nicodemus Part 4 - How To Be Born Again - John 3:9-15

1:42What we'll be looking at today and next time, Jesus is answering the question: how to be born again? He's gone from declaring the necessity of being born again, declaring what being born again means, to now to that brass tax question: How does one be born again? Nicodemus' question: How does one be born again when he is old? That's the question that Jesus is going to precisely answer in the next few verses. So let me just read those to you. Verse 9. Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said to him, Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be Lifted up so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. Well, today, in light of everything that Nicodemus has said in verses, or Jesus has said to Nicodemus in verses 1 through 8, Nicodemus, or Jesus is going to pick up and explain how Nicodemus, he's going to give him the answer to his question, how to be born again. So let's just walk through it. In verse 9, Nicodemus said to him, and keep in mind what Jesus has just said. He has just declared in verses 1 through 8, it's necessary to be born again. Being born again is a work of God. One does not cause his own birth. It is an act of God. It is a work of God. It involves the cleansing work of the Spirit, the life-imparting work of the Spirit. And the result that comes out of being born again is a new nature. And it is upon that new nature that will come the faith, that will come the ability to see, to perceive, and to understand the things of God.

4:10This is what being baptized in the Holy Spirit involves. And it remains somewhat of a mystery. The inner workings of the Spirit of God remain somewhat of a mystery, like the wind. You can't see it, but you know it's there. So also the work of the Spirit may not see. But you certainly know the effects. You certainly see the effects. And this is what Jesus has just walked through Nicodemus in the first eight verses. And then Nicodemus says to them, How can these things be? How is this possible?

4:48And his question reveals that he just doesn't understand. He is completely in the dark. How is this? How is this possible? It's a real sad commentary on a very educated and religious man, isn't it? He was very learned, very educated. He was genuine in his religion, but he was completely, and get this, completely in the dark when it comes to spiritual realities. You know, as in Nicodemus' time today, it's very possible for people to be very devout in their religion, in even entire religions themselves, based upon devotion and education or whatever, great experiences and all kinds of stuff. That is completely possible, as was in Nicodemus' time, for someone to be that educated, that religious, that devoted, and be completely blind to spiritual truth. That explains a lot that we see all around. Us, right? We see a lot of great professions, great activities, great movements, and yet it is not only possible, it is likely that spiritual darkness abounds. In fact, what Jesus is going to make very clear, and for you to expect, for Nicodemus to expect, but certainly for us to expect, spiritual darkness is the norm. Spiritual light is the exception.

6:31You know, there's a popular notion today that says it really doesn't matter what your religion is as long as you are sincere. Take a long, hard look at Nicodemus. The history of his life tells you that that's not true because he is the epitome of devotion, the epitome of religious activity, and yet he's completely bankrupt and completely void of spiritual understanding. That's the man before us. Great learning, great learning, high positioned, even coupled with intense devotion, does not necessarily produce spiritual understanding. Listen, kids, listen. Everybody, I'm talking young ones, but I guess we're all kids, right? Listen, you can be wiser. You can be wiser than the most learned person, the most learned person. Most educated person, and you don't have to know all the facts of the universe. You don't even have to know the full scope of everything that the Bible says. But you will become wiser and wiser than even some of the most learned if you simply believe the portion of scripture that you do read. If you just have a believing mindset, you will be made wise, wise into salvation, wise in what's really going on.

8:05But do not be surprised. Do not be surprised that if you go through life, if you find that spiritual darkness is the norm, you will find that spiritual light is the exception. Well, notice Jesus' response to Nicodemus' reaction. Look at verse 10. Jesus answered and said to him, Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these? Let me break this down, just get the tense. And Jesus said to him, Are you currently the teacher of Israel and you are currently not knowing these things?

8:42Are you the teacher? Are you the famous rabbi and instructor of Israel? Nicodemus is obviously one of us that is in one of the highest ranks, one of the highest authority. In the land, heralded as a great teacher, a great instructor, and Jesus Himself, are you the teacher? You're very prominent, very prominent on very important issues. Nicodemus was a celebrated teacher. He no doubt spoke on very weighty matters, such as God, such as man, such as sin, salvation, such as the kingdom of God. He probably instructed many through his life on how to enter the kingdom of God.

9:38No doubt, he had taught many times on the subject of the kingdom of God. And yet, in this instance, we see this man totally bankrupt. He is speaking face to face with one whom he has called rabbi. And one he says, I know that God is with you because of the signs that you were doing. There's no way you could do these things unless God was with you. And he hears the words from this teacher, from this rabbi, cut him to the heart. You do not even know these things?

10:22Could you imagine the sinking feeling? Could you imagine after spending your life pursuing? Something, teaching many, and getting to the end, and you're kind of like, I had it all wrong. I had it all wrong. This is the indictment that Jesus levels against Nicodemus. And this is the last time we hear him speak, hear Nicodemus speak in this dialogue. He didn't even know how to get into the kingdom of God. The very people to whom the kingdom was promised, the very leader among the leaders, and he doesn't even know the way into the kingdom.

11:10And he knows it. This is why he's wrestling so intensely. That's basic, okay? But think about this. If this is the state of one of the most revered teachers in the land, what was the state of the nation? Bankrupt. This is that blind leading the blind. I may have told you this story before, but I remember taking an engineer that I was training to handle large projects and to take care of business and take care of a client. So I paired him up with a client and I sent him off to this big project, city meeting with a whole bunch of officials and a bunch of people and the client and I. And I gave him the task of leading the whole meeting. It was a very big development, and this was his time to really learn and grow and to be able to win points with the client that he was going to take care of from then on. We get into the meeting, and he takes the lead like he was coached. He did everything that I coached him to do, and he took off and he took control of the meeting. And then he just waxed eloquently on the process and what was going to take place and the engineering issues involved. And he was totally wrong on all of them. And I'm sitting back there just cringing. But he's so confident and he's so good that the meeting went so well that the client came up to me afterwards and says, He really knows his stuff.

12:54And I had to tell the client, Yes, he's a work in progress, but just in case you know, you've got to do this. You can't do X, Y, and Z that he said, or you're going to end up, this project's going to be a disaster. Supply chain's going to have your hide, and you're going to lose your job. So we need to back this up just a little bit, and it's going to be a disaster. Well, that's the idea. Nicodemus, this leadership, he spoke with authority. And yet, the end of all who followed him, even the end for himself, was going to be complete disaster. Seed that falls on hard soil. Hard soil.

13:38But he tells them why. Well, let's look back at verse 11. Let's just keep going through. Truly, truly, we speak. Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. Here's the real problem. And this is, again, let me get to get the tense of the verbs here. Truly, truly, Jesus is saying, I am saying to you, we, what we know, we are speaking about. Contrary to what you don't know and speak about, we are speaking about what we know, and we are testifying. We are currently testifying of what we have seen. In other words, I understand what I'm talking about and testify this to you. And the we here, plural, Jesus uses the word plural, and I think he is a comment or a statement involving everybody that testifies to the light, but certainly Jesus Himself is the lead speaker here, the light himself. And so Jesus is speaking, saying, Look, I know what I'm talking about.

15:01But all who testify truly to the light, we speak of what we know and what we testify of. But here's the problem: we are speaking what we know, we are testifying of what we have seen, contrary to you, but you are not accepting, you are not taking in, you are not receiving our testimony. That's your problem. Jesus pinpoints Nicodemus' main problem and why he's not going to see or enter the kingdom of God. He's not accepting Jesus' testimony.

15:44You know, and it's true of everyone. If you don't accept Jesus' testimony, if you don't accept what he has to say about the kingdom of God and how to enter it, you're not going to enter the kingdom of God that he is talking about. And it just so happens that the kingdom of God that he is talking about is also the kingdom of God that the Old Testament prophets spoke about. It is that kingdom that will never pass away. The one that God has set his seal, put his word upon, that is coming, that will put an end to all other. And if you don't accept Jesus' words about that kingdom and how to enter that kingdom, you are not going to enter that kingdom. It's been 40 years or so since I was at a little. Camp in the badlands of New Mexico as a kid. And I guess there was this little boy that permanently scarred me there for life. And I may still need to see therapy. I don't know, because it still comes to my mind. But there was this little kid. Of course, I was little too, and he seemed big to me at the time, but he always called me a liar.

17:00And I mean, for no reason, I would say, yo, some people said they saw a bear there in the woods, liar. He said, no, that really, liar. I saw a raccoon, liar. I mean, the breakfast was good this morning, liar. I mean, every time it was liar, you liar, you liar. And it was, it really got me upset. I said, you know, there's a boxing ring out there. We can put the gloves on. This is how youth camps used to be done. You know, could you imagine doing that today? There's a boxing arena out there here. Go put the gloves. You guys go beat each other up, and everybody stands around and cheers. That would work pretty good on Friday nights, wouldn't it? Right? Well, that's welcome to camp in the badlands of New Mexico, right? That's what you did.

17:52And so I said, let's go, why don't we go step in the boxing ring? I'm not very good. Liar. So he wouldn't. Get in the ring. But anyway, I'm still thinking about it. You know, it just still kind of makes me, there was no basis of relationship. I mean, there was nothing. I mean, could you imagine if the first time I met Nancy, we're in Russia, and I come up to her and I say, hi, I'm Tom, liar.

18:20No, really, I'm Tom and I'm from Texas, liar. No, really, really, no, liar. No one named Tom from Texas looks like you. You're a liar. Now, who are you? What are you really after, you liar? We wouldn't have much of a relationship, would we? Couldn't go anywhere. That's how the Son of Man was received by his own people. Liar, liar. And even today, that's how some of you receive him. As he speaks, as we're able to eavesdrop in on this conversation, and Jesus is laying out the way for you to go to heaven. You must be born again. That's the only way.

19:12Some of you in your heart are saying, liar. There's another way. What about liar? Liar. You see, if your presupposition is that I'm trying to bamboozle you, you're not going to understand me or you're not going to understand what I have to say. If Nancy thought I was a liar and just that was in her mind, our relationship couldn't go anywhere. You see, Nicodemus could not understand Jesus until he first believed Jesus. Do you see how fundamental that is to a relationship? Same is true for you and me. If you believe that Jesus is a liar or the scripture that gives us information about Jesus we have is unreliable, you will not be able to understand Jesus or the way to the kingdom that Jesus speaks so much about.

20:06If you don't believe, you are like that seed. The word of God comes to you and it's stolen from you very quickly. That was Nicodemus' real problem. Now let's pick it up in verse 12. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? If I told you, past tense, if I told you of earthly things and you're presently not believing them, if I should tell you about heavenly things, how will you believe?

20:47If you're not believing the simpler stuff, how are you going to believe? If I continue going on in this conversation and telling you more about heavenly things, how are you going to believe them? Future tense. Because you haven't believed the simpler stuff that I've already declared, how are you going to believe the heavenly things? You see, there's no way that Nicodemus is going to understand how to enter the kingdom of God. If he doesn't understand the what, that is, if he doesn't understand that Jesus is saying you must be born again, and he takes issue with that and he challenges him on that, then he's not going to be able to understand how to be born again. If he doesn't believe that being born again is necessary to enter the kingdom of heaven, he's not going to understand how to be born again. Does that make sense? Today, if you do not understand that some change must take place in your heart, some real dynamic, supernatural change where God changes your disposition and your nature to desire the things of heaven, if you cannot tell right now that that needs to happen for you to have a relationship with God, if you don't believe that being a born again is necessary, you won't believe how it happens, right?

22:14Well, that's Nicodemus' situation. It doesn't do any good to talk, go further in depth about the mechanics if you don't believe the reality. This should have been the end of the discussion. You're not receiving my word. You're calling me a liar. It should be the end of it, right? But in his grace and in his goodness, Jesus goes on. This is the Christ of Scripture. He goes on to tell Nicodemus about heavenly things. He tells him actually three specific heavenly things in verses 13 through 15.

23:02And these three heavenly things precisely answer the question: how does one be born again? So, as I said, it's going to take me a couple of weeks to cover these, but we'll look at the first one today. And what I want you to do is, I want you to see three heavenly things that answer the question: how does one become born again? How do you become born again? So that you will know the way into heaven and the way to point others to heaven. Three heavenly things that tell us how to be born again. First of all, this is not the uh oh, we didn't get them put up. I've modified it a little bit.

23:48Heavenly thing number one is going to be the credibility of the Son of Man. Well, hold on a second. Let me just take this down. Sometimes I modify things as I. Get there. But the first heavenly thing: first thing you need to do to know how to become born again. Number one, you have to recognize the credibility of the Son of Man. You have to recognize the credibility of the Son of Man, the credibility. Look at verse 13: No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

24:33So, first thing you have to do is recognize who you're talking to, recognize who the authority is, recognize the credible witness that Jesus is about the things of heaven. You have to recognize the credibility of the Son of Man. No one has ascended, Jesus says. That is, no one has gone up. No one, no one, and it's a perfect tense, no one has gone up and is there into heaven. And heaven is speaking of the very presence of God. No one has ascended, no one has gone up, no one perfectly resides in unbreakable union with the Father. No one does. You can say, well, Elijah went up, yeah, and maybe Enosh went up, yeah, Moses, whatever your thoughts are on that.

25:27But this is a much more intimate. Statement, gone up and in the very presence of God, no one has gone up except he who descended. That is, except the one coming down, the Son of Man. This expression, he ascended, speaks of a perfect, unbreakable union that Jesus enjoyed with the Father. Certainly, that union is there even in his humanity, except at the cross, broken a union, and yet he is the one, the one that has come down. But I want you to look at this phrase, the Son of Man.

26:13Who is the Son of Man? He has already referred to himself as the Son of Man. Jesus calls himself the Son of Man. Remember in verse 151, he's speaking to Nathanael, and he says to him, You know, why don't we just read it? It says to Nathanael in verse 151, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Now, why does Jesus refer to himself as the Son of Man? That's how he sees himself. That's his self. In fact, in all the Gospels, when Jesus first refers to himself, he refers to himself as the Son of Man. And then going through, it's his favorite. Self-description of who he is, the Son of Man. And that's who Jesus sees himself. Now, what is that?

27:11A title is what we use to describe ourselves or says something about ourselves or how we see ourselves. I remember, and I'm going to tell a story about my older brother, which is actually James, your dad, so you can check the truth of this story. But my older brother's name is Carrie Dan Baber, Carrie Dan. For some reason, the name Dan stuck. And when he was in high school and I was in junior high or younger, he would go around the house, I'm Dan the man.

27:54I'm Dan the man. That's my self-title. I'm Dan the man. Of course, I would say, no, you know, I don't think it's Dan the man. I think it's Carrie the Fairy. That's who you are. You're Carrie the Fairy. Bruh, you know, and then have a big skirmish in the house. He'd pin me to the ground. Say it, say it, okay. You're Dan the man. You're Dan the man. Because I certainly didn't want to get up and go tell my mom I'd gotten whooped. By a fairy, but anyway, but just as soon, you know, yeah, okay, you're Dan the man, you're Dan the man for sure, you're for sure, you know, and I'd get close enough to the door, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it. Carry the fairy, take off, you know. That's what we did before the days of Facebook, you know.

28:47But anyway, that's but this expression, this is how he said, he didn't like that idea, he didn't like that depiction that I was putting. He liked his, oh, I'm Dan the man, right? And that's that's what, like, picture this setting. If I, if we're, we're in a group setting and I come in and I say, my name is Thomas Baber, and I am the engineer of record of this project. What images come to your mind? I'm saying something, I am the engineer that's going to take responsibility. If I come into a room and I say, I'm Thomas Baber, I'm a pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church. That tells you a little bit about how I see my role in this situation. Well, here is Jesus. I am the Son of Man. Now, what is going on in his mind? If you're going to have to recognize the credibility of the Son of Man, you need to understand who the Son of Man is and who Jesus sees the Son of Man being. And so, what I want to take our time, because I really feel like it's important that we get this concept before we keep moving through John chapter 3 and the rest of the John for that matter, because he sees himself as the Son of Man. Well, there are two categories. As you work your way through the New Testament, I mean the Old Testament, of what this phrase, son of man, means.

30:08First of all, it is a first category, it is one that we can all relate to, a son of man. And since we are all son of men, and this would include the greater scope of daughters of men, it's humanity, it's a picture of the offspring of humanity. And it's a description of the unreliability, the lowliness, the insignificance, and even sinfulness of humanity. This expression shows up in various places throughout. But notably, we start there in Numbers 23, Balaam is speaking, and he says, God is not a man. That is, he's not an Adam that he should lie, nor a son of man that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken and he will not make good? In other words, the son of men, the sons of men, the son of man, the children of Adam, are weak in keeping their word.

31:14We're notorious for not keeping our word. Maybe inability, whatever, but God is not like that. In Job chapter 25 and verse 4, Bildad is speaking to Job, and he said, How then can a man be just with God? Or how can he be clean who is born of a woman? If even the moon has no brightness and the stars are not pure in his sight, how much less man, that maggot, and the son of man, that worm? So it's a picture of the moral weakness, the moral uncleanness, the imperfection of man in relation to God. So it's a really weak picture of man, a weakened picture.

32:00Psalm 80, verse 1 says, O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, who have displayed your splendor above the heavens. When I consider your heavens and the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, what is man? What is Adam? That you take thought of him. Or what is Adam? What is man? That you take thought of him. And the son of man, who's even more insignificant than man, right?

32:32And the son of man, that you care for him. It's a picture, this phrase, son of man, is a picture of the insignificance of man in the grand scheme of things. There's another place it's used, and there are many, but I'm just picking a few. In Ezekiel, it speaks of the lowliness and humility of man before a holy God. In Ezekiel chapter 1, Ezekiel sees the glory of God, and he describes it wonderfully. Wonderfully. And he says, and after he sees the glory of God, when I saw it, I fell on my face as if he were dead. He fell on his face. And then in chapter 2, verse 1, then he said, a voice was speaking to him, said, Son of man, stand to your feet, that I may speak to you. And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet. The life-giving power of the Spirit came into this weakened, lowly humanity before God and set him on his feet. So when you sum up these expressions of the Son of Man, you get a picture of weakness, a picture of lowliness, a picture of the transitoriness of man. And I think we can all identify with this expression, Son of Man. Picture of weakness, picture of lowliness. But then there's another description, a second category of descriptions that come out in reference to this Son of Man.

34:08A description that speaks specifically of one individual. In Psalm 80, verse 3, the psalmist is crying out, O God, restore us and cause your face to shine upon us that we may be saved. So there's this plea to be saved. This is the nation of Israel. Save us, save us. Save us. And then he goes on in verse 17: Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, upon the Son of man, whom you made strong for yourself. Then we shall not turn back from you. Revive us, and we will call upon your name. And he repeats the prayer, O Lord, cause your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved. It's in this context, the prayer is, God, make your face shine upon us. How many times have you heard that? May God's face shine upon you. Well, in this context, you know what the expression of God's face shining upon the person is the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the man of your right hand that you have made strong.

35:18Let your hand be upon him so that we may not turn back from following you. Incredible statement about this individual, this Son of Man, the man of God's right hand. But of course, Daniel 7:13, I'll just read it to you. This is the picture of the coming kingdom. I kept looking in the night vision, says Daniel, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming, and he came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him, and to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. Interesting that Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, and he says, No one has ascended, only the one coming down, the Son of Man. Nicodemus understood.

36:22This is who they're looking for, the Son of Man. In fact, as you go on through the New Testament, in Revelation 1:13, there is the picture of the Son of Man clothed in a robe, and he is reaching his feet, and he is among the lampstands, the churches of Revelation. The Son of Man is there. Then you see him again, that same expression in Revelation 14:14. I looked, and behold, there was a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a Son of Man, having a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. He is the one that gives the word, harvest the earth. This is the Son of Man.

37:08Who is the Son of Man? Jesus. Jesus sees himself as such. And what a picture. Weak. The weakness he bore was like our weakness. And yet the power that he displayed, even in his humble station, Was God's power. As the Son of Man, he displayed both human weakness and divine power. What a title. What a name. In fact, Job, in Job 9:32, he cries out to God. He says, I am not, for he is not a man as I am, that I may answer him, that we may go to court together. Job is crying out, there is no umpire between us. That is, there is no arbiter between us that could put his hand on God and put his hand on me and bring us together. There isn't one. And Job is crying out, and he says, Let him remove his rod from me and let not dread of him terrify me. Then I would speak to him and not fear him. In other words, Job is saying, I am scared to death to be in the presence of a holy God, and there is no way for me to even make my case because even if I were in his presence, I'd be so frightened.

38:30And here's God's answer. The humble peasant, the glorified king, the son of man, one that we can relate to, who is God in the flesh. You see, Nicodemus, come back to John chapter 3, Nicodemus knew that the signs spoke of Jesus' heavenly commission. But what he didn't realize, he wasn't taking in Jesus' words. He was. Shutting him out. He didn't realize that he was talking to heaven's king, heaven's glory, and heaven's administrator, the one who lets them in, and the one who baptizes and washes and gets them ready. This is Jesus. And if anyone can tell Jesus about or tell Nicodemus about heaven and the way into it, it was Jesus. Same is true today. If you're not going to believe Jesus's words, you will never be born again. You will never see the kingdom of God.

39:42You know, it's not, it shouldn't be difficult for us to understand that the kingdom of God is for those who do not die. The kingdom itself lasts forever. We know intuitively something that has to happen to us. In order for us to be fitted for glory and fitted for eternity, something dramatic and supernatural has to change because the normal course of events is that we're going to die and decay, and that's it. But the kingdom that is spoken about over and over in the scripture is for those who live forever. So we ought to know intuitively something has to change.

40:22And I know we have some friends from China here. I've never been to China. Now, suppose I tried to tell you. All about Susie's home. You're China, right? Yes. I've never been to your home. Okay, so who do you think's a greater authority on her place in China, me or her? Shouldn't be hard. I can read about it, I can try to communicate things about China, but you're going to learn a lot more from somebody who's actually been there. That's what Jesus is saying. That's what Jesus is saying.

41:02You see, the one from that country is the best one to give testimony about that country. I read a really interesting note in one of my books, Howard Atkinson, commentary of Howard Atkinson, his fourth anniversary, is it? Celebration. I love reading. I got his books, and so he highlights a bunch of things, and off to the, in the margin, he wrote this, and I read it last night about commenting on this verse. He said, Nicodemus came with an argument, but he met the man who had experience. The man with an argument has no match for the one who's been there and saw it.

41:52You see, Nicodemus' failure was not one of the intellect, but one of receiving Jesus' word. Let that not be us. Let our failure not be one of intellect. Let our failure not be one of receiving God's words. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we know that we must receive your testimony. Father, there is no hope of entering into that which you testify about. Father, we thank you that you have come, that you have spoken to us, Father, in a way that doesn't just terrify the daylights out of us. But, Father, you took upon yourself the form of a peasant, that for our benefit, that we would even be able to hear and relate and to go to you. And Father, we just thank you for your Son. Father, we thank you for the truth that he declared to us. Father, and I just ask now that you would grant believing hearts.

43:17Father, may all those who are gathered here today be ever growing in their belief of your words, the reception of your words, the forgiveness. Father, where we have called you a liar to your face. Father, may it never be. We confess we're guilty of this and ask you to be the God who you really are. Father, and help us to truly receive every word that you have spoken to us. Father, we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.