John 3:1-15 You Must Be Born Again

1:12So I started to investigate what was going on, and I came to find out that a bunch of ants had burrowed underneath and had started tunneling through the wood, had totally hollowed it out. So I tried to hold it together with, you know, a crazy combination of brackets, the screws, but eventually I just had to acknowledge. That it was beyond repair, and there was nothing that I could do to fix it. I just had to build a new one.

1:38Ever since the fall, the human race has been trying to fix what's wrong with us. But every one of our solutions always gets undermined by sin, that unseen destructive force that's inside of each one of us. We try combinations of religious and philosophical and technological solutions, brackets and screws, but they always give out. In a sense, we're beyond repair. We can't be reformed. We can only be made new. And that's exactly what Jesus is going to tell a man named Nicodemus today in John chapter 3. We must be born again.

2:23So let's take a look here at the text, chapter 3, verse 1. We meet this man named Nicodemus. We learn that he is a Pharisee. And Pharisees, of course, were the most respected religious society within Judaism at the time. And he's not just a Pharisee. We see that he is a ruler of the Jews. That's almost certainly referring to his membership in the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was the legislative and judicial council. They're the ones that interpreted and applied the Mosaic law to everyday life for the nation of Israel. And so John is showing us that Nicodemus. Nicodemus is a model Israelite. He is a law-keeping, temple-going, sacrifice-offering Hebrew of Hebrews. And in verse 10, later on in the passage, Jesus is going to refer to him as the teacher of Israel. So, on top of everything else, he is greatly respected in the Jewish community. And John tells us that Nicodemus comes to Jesus at nighttime, perhaps to avoid detection by the Pharisees or other members of the Sanhedrin. He's clearly intrigued by Jesus. He doesn't want to go off hearsay and rumor. He wants to know who is this man. I want to get the story from him myself. And so, look what Nicodemus says, verse 2: Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher, come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.

4:00Now, by calling him rabbi, Nicodemus is showing Jesus a great amount of respect because he, of all people, would know that Jesus never had any formal rabbinical training. Jesus was an unschooled Israelite. But by calling him rabbi, he is acknowledging that Jesus is a teacher worth seeking out. The teacher of Israel is saying this is a teacher worth learning from. Now, I want you to notice what Nicodemus says to Jesus. We know that you are a teacher, come from God.

4:35We know. Well, the Sanhedrin, of course, was used to evaluating rabbis and ministries and deciding whether a teacher was teaching in line with the Mosaic law and the tradition of the elders. So they were used to making pronouncements. We know you come from God. We know you don't come from God. We know. And that's what he says to Jesus. We know. Well, how do they know? Pay attention to this. Look at what he says. For no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.

5:10There's another reference to signs in the Gospel of John. This is our sixth or seventh reference to signs in the Gospel of John. So let's back up to the end of the previous chapter where Jesus cleared the temple and then predicted his own death and resurrection. And I want you to look carefully, either in your Bible or on the screen, at how John ends chapter 2. Look what he says. Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus, on his part, did not entrust himself to them because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

5:57So, the last thing that John says in the previous section. At the end of chapter 2, is that lots of people believed in Jesus when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus knew what was in man, so he didn't entrust himself to any man. And look at how chapter 3 begins. Now, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus. This man came to Jesus and said, Rabbi, we've seen the signs that you are doing.

6:28What is John showing us? He's showing us that Nicodemus is one of these men, that he has a superficial faith, that he has seen the signs that Jesus is doing, and he believes in Jesus, in a sense, but he doesn't have saving faith in Jesus. He's just like the rest of these people. He saw the signs and he was intrigued. Look at what John Piper had to say about this in his book, Finally Alive. It's a great book on regeneration.

7:00Seeing signs and wonders and being amazed at them and giving the miracle worker credit for them that he is from God saves nobody. This is one of the great dangers of signs and wonders. You don't need a new heart to be amazed at them. The old fallen human nature is all that's needed to be amazed at signs and wonders. And the old fallen human nature is willing to say that the miracle worker is from God. The devil himself knows that. Jesus is the Son of God and works miracles.

7:36So, how do we expect Jesus to respond to Nicodemus' statement that nobody can do the signs that he's doing unless he's from God? We expect him to celebrate that. We expect him to affirm his statement, to tell him that he's on the right track, to at least be encouraged that a key religious leader is not opposed to him. That's what we would expect. But how does Jesus respond to Nicodemus? Look at verse 3. Jesus answered him: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

8:18Now, I don't know if you grew up in church or not, but if you did, and if you came from certain denominations, you heard about being born again your whole life. It's as familiar to you as Christmas. And so, the temptation in this passage, if that's you, is to kind of zone out because you already know what Jesus is getting at here. You already kind of know what I'm going to say, and you're going to start to think about where you're going to go for lunch after this. That's going to be the temptation because you're so familiar with the idea of being born again. So, I want to invite you to fully engage with Jesus' statement to Nicodemus here, where he tells him that he can't even see the kingdom of God. Unless he is born again.

9:04Born again. Nicodemus is no intellectual slouch. He is the teacher of Israel. He is a brilliant theologian, and yet in verse 4, it is very obvious that he has absolutely no idea what Jesus is talking about. Born again? How would you enter a second time into your mother's womb and be born again? That's impossible. But Jesus doubles down on his statement. Look at verse 5. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

9:50What is Jesus saying here? Some people have concluded that when Jesus says that we have to be born of water and the spirit, he is saying that we have to be born both physically and spiritually to enter the kingdom of God. But of course, that doesn't make any sense. Why would Jesus have to say you have to be born physically and spiritually to enter the kingdom of God? Who are you talking to that's not been born? We've all been born. So that's a statement that doesn't need to be said. It's true, but it's pointless. I don't think that's what he's saying.

10:30Other people conclude that Jesus means that we have to be baptized in water, and we have to be baptized by the Holy Spirit in order to enter the kingdom of God. But that's not true. We don't have to be baptized in water to enter the kingdom of God. Jesus is clear in the rest of this chapter that we are saved by grace through faith in him, not by anything that we do. He never mentions baptism in the rest of the passage. For that matter, he never mentions it in the rest of his ministry until he gives the great commission.

11:05He told the thief that was dying on the cross next to him, who was never baptized, today you will be with me in paradise. It is true that John the Baptist said that Jesus, the Messiah, would come and baptize us in the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that he would do that. He said he would send him. The Apostle Paul says the Holy Spirit is the deposit guaranteeing our inheritance in God's kingdom. So it is true that we have to be baptized in the Holy Spirit to enter the kingdom of heaven, but it's not true that we have to be baptized in water. So that doesn't make sense either.

11:43So what does Jesus mean when he says, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God? I want you to think about the context here. Jesus is clearly surprised that Nicodemus, the teacher of Israel, An expert in the law has absolutely no idea what he's talking about. Maybe because what Jesus is doing is he's referring to one of the best-known passages in the Old Testament, Ezekiel 36. Take a look on the screen.

12:19God tells Israel, I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you, and I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

12:47So, friends, in this passage, God tells Israel that he is about to act for his name's sake. He is going to act so that all of the nations will know that he is God. No more promises from Israel to try harder to do better. No, God is going to act, and he is going to act for his name's sake. What is he going to do? He is going to sprinkle clean water on us to cleanse us from our sin and our idolatry. He's going to put a new spirit in us, removing our hearts of stone, giving us a heart of flesh, placing his spirit in us so that we can obey him, so that we can honor him, so that we can walk according to his commandments.

13:30That's why Jesus says in verse 7, Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. He's saying, Nicodemus, why are you surprised at this? My words come straight out of one of the best-known passages in the Old Testament. Isn't this just what the prophet Ezekiel said, that we need to be cleansed with pure water? That we need a new heart and a new spirit from God? Why are you surprised that I said this?

14:00And then he adds this in verse 8. Take a look. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. Jesus says, Nicodemus, the work of God's Spirit is like the wind. And you need to know that in the Greek, the word pneuma is the same word for spirit and wind. So in the original language, this is an amazing play on words. The wind blows where it wishes. Well, what's true about the wind?

14:42You can't control it. You don't know where it comes from or where it goes. You just see it and feel it. You see its effects. And in the same way, Jesus says, so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. You don't control the Spirit, He goes wherever He chooses. You can't force him to move one way or another, but you can see his effects. Just like you can't control the wind or force it to go one place or another, you can feel its effects. That is true of the Spirit. According to the Apostle Paul, God sends his Spirit into our hearts, leading us to cry, Abba, Father, because he has adopted us as His children through faith. We can see and feel the effects of the Spirit.

15:30And others can see His effects as we begin bearing the fruit of the Spirit in our everyday life. They can see us beginning to change and to be different, to have different priorities, to act differently than we acted before. You don't know where the Spirit came from or how it got there, but you can see and feel. Others can see and feel the effects of the Spirit. So, friends, we learn so much about how we enter the kingdom of God and about the mystery of regeneration, of what it means to be born again from this brief interaction between Jesus and Nicodemus. Nicodemus walks up and says, We've seen the signs. We know you come from God.

16:14And Jesus doesn't respond by saying, Way to go, Nicodemus, you and the leaders are so close. You just need a little more information, a little more theology, a little more religion. You're so close. No, he says, you must be born again. That could be translated, born from above. You must be born again. You must be born from above if you are to see and enter the kingdom of God. You can't even see it unless you're born again, much less enter into it. You must be born again.

16:50And I want to think with you for a minute about the implications of the truth that we must be born again or born from above to see and enter the kingdom of God. First, our need to be born again reveals that our spiritual condition is hopeless apart from God. Our spiritual condition is hopeless apart from God. If there were any hope for us, we would not need to be born again. All we would need is a little more teaching, a second chance to try harder to do better. That's all we would need. Brackets and screws.

17:32But you have to start over when the old thing can't be fixed, when it can't be repaired or reformed, when it can never be good enough. And that's the case with us and our spiritual lives. Take a look at Ephesians 2. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disciples. Disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of the flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

18:15Our need to be reborn reveals that our spiritual condition is hopeless apart from God's intervention. Second, our need to be born again reveals that God must choose to grant us new life. God must choose to grant us new life. You don't choose to be born. You don't say to yourself one day, I believe I'd like to exist. That is impossible. You cannot choose to be born and will yourself into existence. Someone else makes that decision. At the ultimate level, it's God. On the human level, it is two parents. Someone else must decide for you. They must choose for you. They must will to grant you new life. And the same is true of us spiritually. John has already taught us this in chapter 1. Take a look at verses 12 and 13.

19:16But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh. Nor of the will of man, but of God. We don't decide to be spiritually reborn. God chooses to grant us new life. We are spiritually reborn by the will of God. And then, third and finally, our need to be born again reveals that God must act to cause us to be born again. God must act to cause us to be born again. Just like we don't choose to be born, we don't cause ourselves to be born. That's not how it works. Being born is something that happens to you.

20:09You are caused to be born. And Peter captures this in 1 Peter 1:3. Take a look. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He has caused us to be born again. We don't cause ourselves to be born again. God must act to give us new life. And so I want you to think for a minute about what this means practically for everyday life. The fact that God has to choose to give us new life, the fact that God has to cause us to have new life, the fact that we are hopeless apart from God's intervention, what does that mean for daily life?

21:00Well, first, it means that God gets the glory for our salvation. We get no credit for being good enough or religious enough or smart enough to choose Jesus. God gets all of the credit and all of the glory because it's his work from start to finish, granting us new life. It means that our souls are secure eternally. I mean, think about that. If God has caused us to be born again to a living hope, like Peter says, we can never lose our salvation. We can never lose our salvation because it's a gift of God. He's caused us to be born again.

21:42He caused that to happen to us. And once you've been born, you don't become unborn. It means that we can have confidence in evangelism. It means that we can go across the street or across the world knowing that we cannot, through the power of our words or arguments, grant anyone new life. We can't bring anyone from death to life, but God can use us. He can use our proclamation of the gospel to grant new life to those who are dead in sin.

22:15So the pressure is off of us. The pressure is off of you and me to have the right words to say to our coworkers and neighbors and friends and those who live across the world. The pressure is off. What we are called to do is be faithful, to proclaim, trusting the Lord. God and God alone can grant new life. So you see, friends, this is not an interesting but ultimately meaningless conversation. What we believe about the mystery of regeneration and whether it's God's work or ours has implications for how we live every day as Christians. Praising God for his work, giving him the praise for what he's done in our life, trusting that our souls are secure eternally and that we don't have to worry about losing our salvation, and being faithful in evangelism. All of that comes back to the fact that this is God's work in us to bring us from death to life.

23:11Let's pick up in verse 9. Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be? Jesus answered him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? Nicodemus is just exasperated at this point. He does not get what Jesus is saying. And his reaction, his response, brings to mind what Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 2. Look on the screen. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him. And he is not able to understand them because they are spiritual. Spiritually discerned. Look at the strength of those words in that verse. He does not accept these things. He is not able to understand them. It's not a willingness question, it's an ability question. He cannot do it because they're spiritually discerned. This is why Jesus told Nicodemus: you must be born again. You've got to be born from above, because the natural person does not accept or understand spiritual truth.

24:31So Jesus is shocked that Nicodemus doesn't get these things on one level because it's such a clear reference to Ezekiel 36, the idea that we have to be born again. But that's the very point. This man is the teacher of Israel. Nobody knows the Old Testament better than him. Nobody knows the teachings of the law better than him. But because he hasn't been born again, because he hasn't been born from above, he doesn't get it. It's not a question of education and training. It's not a question of knowledge. It's a question of the Spirit doing a new work in a heart to bring us from death to life.

25:12Verse 11. Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? Now you should know that except for the very first instance in verse 11 of the word you, that word is singular. Every other time the word you appears in verses 11 and 12, it is plural. It's plural in the Greek. So I want to reread these verses to you in Texan.

25:54Verse 11. Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but y'all don't receive our testimony. If I have told y'all earthly things and y'all don't believe, how can y'all believe if I tell y'all heavenly things? So you see what Jesus is saying? He's talking to Nicodemus. I say to you, to you, singular, Nicodemus, I say to you. But he's talking about all of the Sanhedrin, all of the religious leaders. He's like, Nicodemus walks up and says, Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher come from God. We've seen the signs. And Jesus says, y'all don't know anything. You're the teacher of Israel, and you and your associates don't understand this at all. But we do. We do. He says, we, verse 11 here, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen. Who is we?

26:52It's Jesus and John the Baptist. Think about all the times in chapter 1 and 2 that John the Baptist has been bearing witness. And testifying to who Jesus is. Jesus says that he and John speak of what they know and are bearing witness to what they've seen. John received word from God that the Holy Spirit would descend and remain on the Christ. He saw that. He received that word from God. John has been bearing witness to what he's heard and seen ever since.

27:22And look at verse 13: Jesus. No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. Jesus was there. He can speak of what he knows because he was in heaven and came down from heaven. So, Nicodemus, Jesus, is saying, you and the Sanhedrin think that you know who I am and where I came from, but you don't. You don't receive John's testimony, you don't receive my testimony. You need to be born again so that you can see these things and enter into God's kingdom.

28:01Now, Jesus concludes this section in much the same way that he ended in chapter 2, where he said, If you destroy the temple of my body, in three days I'm going to raise it up again. Look what he says in verses 14 and 15 here. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Once again, And I am just amazed at God's providence. This week, and together in 22, we are reading the book of Numbers.

28:37I just can't believe how God has orchestrated all of these things so well with our preaching series this year. But in Numbers 21, the people are grumbling and complaining against Moses and against God. And so God sends these venomous snakes into the people of Israel. A lot of them get bitten. A lot of them die from the snake bites. So the people come to Moses, they confess their sin. They ask him to pray that God would save them from the snakes. And I want you to look on the screen at Numbers 21.

29:07And the Lord said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole. And everyone who is bitten when he sees it shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. So Jesus tells Nicodemus that just as Moses lifted up the serpent on the pole, that anybody who looked at it in faith would be saved from the venomous snake bites, he says he needs to be lifted up on the cross, that anyone who looks to him in faith would be forgiven, would be saved from the effects of sin.

29:48But you see, looking in faith at that bronze serpent, the only thing that it would do for you is save you from those snake bites. It couldn't save you from anything else. In fact, in the years that came after that, the bronze serpent became an idol. So King Hezekiah broke it in pieces in 2 Kings 18, got rid of it, because it was only powerful at that time to do that one thing. That's it. But friends, Jesus is different. He's not like the bronze serpent. He saves us permanently, once and for all, from sin and all of its effects. He grants eternal life to anyone who looks to him in his sacrificial death and resurrection with faith.

30:32I want you to think about that and like the way that we live in the world today. So many things can save us temporarily: medicine, surgery, diets, eating right, exercising, all of these things can save us temporarily or prevent or prolong our lives, prevent our death. But we are all still going to die. Doesn't matter how much you exercise, it doesn't matter how clean you eat, it doesn't matter what medicines you take or surgeries that you get, we will all eventually die because of sin and the curse.

31:11Only by looking to Jesus can we be saved, believing in his life, death, and resurrection. That's the only way to have eternal life. And I believe that there are some of you today that have not done that. You have not looked to Jesus. And Jesus alone for eternal life. You may be just like Nicodemus in many ways, a good person, a religious person. You may have been in church your entire life. You may be well respected in the community. You may be well respected in the church, just like Nicodemus was well respected among the Jews, but you've never been born again.

31:56God is drawing some of you to faith in Christ today. You will not be able to see the Spirit moving, but you can feel His effects as He grants you that new heart, as He brings you from death to life, as He grants you faith in Jesus. And so I want to charge you today to look to Jesus. Don't look to anything else, look to Jesus. Look to the one who descended from heaven and took on flesh so that He could die in our place for our sins on the cross.

32:37Look to the one who ascended to heaven, who sits at the right hand of God, who is now your mediator and your high priest, so that you never have to try to prove yourself to God again because you have Him standing in the gap for you. Look to Jesus because He says right here that whoever believes in Him. Will have eternal life. Whoever believes in Him, that is you. Whoever. So look to Jesus today. And if you've already looked to Jesus, then I hope this passage will fill your heart with gratitude and joy and wonder. Think about this. He chose you.

33:27Why? He caused you to be born again. Why? There's nothing in us that would make God do that. It is only His grace, His mercy. You can have confidence that your soul is secure eternally because you didn't earn your salvation. It was given to you as a gift. And it's our calling to help others see what Jesus helped Nicodemus to see. That all the religion, all the knowledge in the world cannot save you. You must be born again.

34:10May God grant that for all the friends and family, neighbors, and co-workers that we're praying for. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for helping us to understand just a little bit more about the mystery of regeneration. Not just so that we could walk out of here feeling like we learned some new things, but so that those practical truths would work their way into our hearts and our minds for daily life. God, I pray that we'd be a people who are marked by gratitude and thanksgiving, knowing that you saved us, you caused us to be born again. It's nothing that we did.

35:25God, I pray for any and every Christian in here who doubts his or her salvation, who doubts whether they've truly been born again, even though they have. God, I pray that this would provide great encouragement. That because you've chosen them and you've caused them to be born again, there's no way for them to lose your favor, their calling, their adoption as your sons and daughters. And God, we pray that we would be bold, courageous, faithful. Evangelists, and that we don't allow the excuses of not having the right words or the right arguments or enough knowledge to keep us from faithfully telling others about Christ, because we are just your instruments.

36:15We are those that you use to bring people from death to life. And God, certainly we pray for the lost. Those who are among us this morning who might be just like Nicodemus, good people, respectable people, religious people that have never been born again. We pray that you would grant new life to some in this room this morning, to children, to teenagers and college students, to men and women. God, would you grant new life this morning that we could celebrate in the weeks to come?

36:56In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.