You Must Be Born Again! - John 3:1-15
The bulk of our passage deals with the work of the Holy Spirit. Honestly, when was the last time you heard a sermon on the Holy Spirit?
There’s a lot of confusion over what exactly the Holy Spirit does. If someone asked you what the Holy Spirit does, what would you say?
Typically you don’t think of John 3 as a class on the Holy Spirit, but that’s really what it is.
In order to put faith in Christ, you must first be born again.
Because the new birth or regeneration describes the work of the Holy Spirit, it’s hard for you and me to tell exactly if someone has been born again or not.
This passage gives us some indicators as to what regeneration is and isn’t. First, admiration for Jesus Christ does not indicate new birth (vv. 1-3), second, the new birth does not originate with man (vv. 4-8), and lastly the work of the Holy Spirit should give you assurance of your salvation (vv. 9-15).
Admiration for Christ does not indicate new birth (vv. 1-3)
Chapter 3 opens with a Pharisee named Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night to inquire about his signs and miracles. It’s pretty remarkable that Nicodemus is visiting Jesus. He’s a Pharisee, but more importantly, he’s a “leader among the Jews.”
Nicodemus is a powerful, well respected and educated man. But he’s visiting Jesus, an uneducated, lower class man. That’s why he visited him at night. His reputation could be ruined if someone sees him going to Jesus!
But he’s overwhelmed by curiosity. He wants to understand how Jesus is able to perform his signs and miracles.
““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.”
He correctly acknowledges that Jesus’ miracles point to the Lord. Jesus didn’t perform miracles because he was a nice guy. He performed miracles in order to authenticate or add credibility to his message. The gospel message was and still is more important than any miracle or sign.
Nicodemus is very positive, polite, and respectful. Nicodemus was more interested in the miracles of Christ than the message of Christ. He is fascinated by supernatural works. It’s Jesus, the circus act that compels him to visit Jesus.
But notice what Jesus does: he doesn’t really talk at all about miracles. Jesus had an incredible way of taking conversations exactly where they needed to go. He turned the conversation to spiritual things.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus wants to understand how he performs the mechanics of miracles, but Jesus wants to talk to him about the mechanics of salvation. Jesus tells him, “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
In order to understand the spiritual realm, in order to understand why he performs signs and miracles, you must be born again. The Greek is literally, “born from above.” Nicodemus didn’t need to understand miracles, he needed to experience a heavenly new birth.
He needed eyes to see and ears to hear!
There is a clear distinction between interest, fascination, kindness, respectfulness, and general positivity towards Jesus Christ and truly being born again. There’s an eternal gap between having a passing interest in Christianity and a real love for Christ, a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and a desire to do that which is pleasing to him.
You must be born again! You must be born from above.
Just because someone isn’t hostile toward Christianity doesn’t mean he’s saved.
I think we’d all rather talk to someone about Christianity who’s not hostile to the faith. But that doesn’t indicate the work of the Holy Spirit.
I sometimes wonder if being nice toward Christianity is a form of hedging. If Christianity turns out to be true, then I can say, Lord, I was nice!
It’s going to be unacceptable to stand before the Lord on judgment day and say, “Lord, I liked you. I thought you had some really nice things to say. You were a great teacher and helped make the world a better place.”
And he’ll say, “depart from me for I never knew you.”
When you read this passage, Jesus just jumps right in. He almost comes across a little rough. Nicodemus butters him up only for Jesus to respond with, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
You cannot see or understand spiritual things unless you are born again.
But what might come across as hostility is actually the kindness and compassion of our Lord because he’s more concerned with the state of Nicodemus’ soul than explaining the mechanics of miracles.
Besides, the miracles only make sense to those who have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The kingdom of God, spiritual realm is concealed from those that haven’t been born again.
Admiration for Jesus Christ does not mean you’re indwelt with the Holy Spirit.
The new birth does not originate with man (vv. 4-8)
If interest in Jesus Christ doesn’t mean I’ve been born again, then what does? The next natural question is “how do I become born again?” This is quite literally what Nicodemus asks Jesus. The only thing is, he’s a little confused.
Nicodemus makes the mistake that folks frequently make when speaking to Jesus. They often think he’s speaking literally, physically, when in fact, he’s speaking spiritually.
“How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”
But even more than his confusion, what does this reveal about Nicodemus’s theology? It reveals the underlying assumption and belief that he is in complete control of his own spiritual destiny. He thinks he can make himself be born again. He just needs to understand how to enter his mother’s womb a second time.
Maybe another way of understanding his question is, “Jesus, how can I save myself?”
Jesus tells him you can’t.
It explains why, in verses 5-8 Jesus gives Nicodemus a master class on the work of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus teaches him what it means to be born again. He teaches him about the new birth or regeneration. That is, before you can ever put your faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit must give you a new will, new desires, new affections. The Holy Spirit gives you the ability to put your faith in Christ. Regeneration must precede faith.
The Holy Spirit removes the heart of stone and replaces it with the heart of flesh. But for most people regeneration happens almost simultaneously with putting his or her faith in Jesus Christ.
This is precisely what Nicodemus misunderstood. He thought he was in charge of his salvation. He needed to keep the law perfectly, he needed to enter into his mother’s womb a second time. Because he thought what he did earned him favor with the living God.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
“Water and the Spirit” is simply an Old Testament description of the way the Holy Spirit is dispensed. The Holy Spirit is described as being dispensed or poured out like water.
Notice the minor differences between what Jesus says in verses 3 and 5. In verse 3, he says you cannot “see” the kingdom of God. Here he says you cannot “enter” the kingdom of God.
He’s making the point that you must be born again to see the spiritual realm. And you have to be born again in order to inherit eternal life.
But Jesus is making the point that the Holy Spirit must be poured out before you can be saved. Spiritual change comes through the work of the Holy Spirit.
It also helps us understand the comparison Jesus makes between the Holy Spirit and wind. Just as the wind rushes upon you when you weren’t necessarily looking for it, expected it, or saw it coming, so it is with the Holy Spirit.
God initiates salvation. Grace is more clearly seen when you understand that salvation from beginning to end is a work of God. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Most of you know that I wear glasses and contact lenses. I didn’t get glasses till I was in 9th grade. And I specifically remember sitting in the front row, and unable to read the notes that the teacher had written on the white board. I had to copy the notes off of the person that sat next to me. The really crazy thing is I did this for a while before realizing that something was wrong with me.
It wasn’t until the optometrist put glasses on me for the first time, I thought to myself, is this what normal people see?
Being born again, the new birth, regeneration is like putting on glasses for the first time. You were walking around, everything blurry and unclear until the Holy Spirit put glasses on you.
This is what Jesus is describing to Nicodemus. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Two different worlds, two different realms. The earthly, physical world and the spiritual, heavenly world.
The Christian should seek to see the world the way God sees it. Why? Because you’ve been born again. You’re a new creation in Christ.
And just as the wind rushes upon you when you weren’t necessarily looking for it, expected it, or saw it coming, so it is with the Holy Spirit.
The work of the Holy Spirit should give you assurance (vv. 9-15)
You may be wondering, why does any of this matter? Why should I care whether God or man is sovereign over salvation? At the end of the day, either you're saved or you're not.
The answer is quite simple: Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is either greatly diminished or rendered meaningless if you can earn your salvation. Why did Christ need to die on the cross if you can atone for your sins apart from him?
Your faith isn’t in your own works. Your faith must be in the finished work of Christ. That his sacrifice on the cross truly paid for your sins and makes you right with God.
Look at verses 14 and 15. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
He’s referring to Numbers 21 where Moses led the people of Israel through the desert and in the desert were poisonous sand serpents. And people died. So God told Moses to craft a bronze image of the serpent, put it on a pole and instructed the people that if they were bitten to look upon the one on the pole and they’d be healed.
Hopefully, you can see the parallels between Numbers 21 and the crucifixion. Just as the serpent was lifted up so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
But the parallel goes even deeper than that. They had to look upon that serpent in faith, believing, trusting, that the word of God was true. If they didn’t believe it to be true, were bitten by a snake, and refused to look at the serpent, well, it was all over for them.
Not only does this parallel the crucifixion, but it points to the gospel.
Jesus isn’t interested in talking about the mechanics of miracles with Nicodemus. He was interested in sharing the gospel with him. He wants him to understand how salvation works.
Again, this sheds light on why Jesus spends so much time describing to Nicodemus the work of the Holy Spirit and the necessity to be born again. Divine intervention is required in order to see your need for Christ.
Jesus even had to rebuke Nicodemus for his disbelief and misunderstanding. Nicodemus asks, “how can these things be?”
Jesus has to rebuke him because the new birth is clearly taught throughout the Old Testament. The new birth is clearly taught in the Old Testament, like in Ezekiel 36, where God says he will put His Spirit in his people. Nicodemus is supposed to be an Old Testament expert.
At the end of the day, who’s more qualified to teach on the Holy Spirit than Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity? He is from heaven so his testimony is trustworthy.
Here’s where all of this is heading.
I’ve known several people that have all struggled with assurance of salvation. They wonder if they’ve done enough, if their actions please God, if their life has been good enough to get them into heaven. But countless people struggle with this misunderstanding.
This isn’t something shrug off and say, well I hope you figure it out one day. This is a deceptive doctrinal error that strips God of his power and puts it into your hands.
If salvation is up to you and me - we’ll never know if we did enough. This was the error of Nicodemus. But more than that, there’s no assurance of salvation if you think you have to earn it and keep it.
We all know ourselves and how fickle we can be.
But here’s the flipside of that coin: if you understand that God is the author and finisher of your salvation, there’s great assurance that you are indeed saved, because he’s going to bring you home.
If you trust in Christ for your salvation the Lord will save you. He will bring you home.
Isn’t this the glorious truth that you want to be reminded of on your deathbed? When you have the death rattle in your lungs do you really want someone to sit next to you and say, “I hope you did enough. I hope it works out for you.”
Not only is that unbiblical, it’s unhelpful.
No, what we need to hear is “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
The Lord is going to bring you home.
Maybe some of you are sitting there thinking, I already know this.
The Holy Spirit begins the work of salvation, which should give you and me confidence in our salvation.
Also, the work of the Holy Spirit should give you confidence in your sanctification. The Holy Spirit should give you confidence that you can and will grow and mature in holiness and righteousness.
By the grace of God and the power of the Spirit you can break the bonds of reigning sin in your life.
There is no sin too strong, too powerful that the Spirit of God cannot free you from.
That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. When you’ve been born again, you're a new creation!
“My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth and followed thee!”
We have hope for change not because you can muster up the strength to be better on your own. We have hope for change because the Spirit of God is alive in us!
This is why it’s so frustrating for me to hear Christians say the sin you struggle with now, you’ll struggle with for the rest of your life. Don’t get me wrong, we all struggle with sin, but comments like that condemn you and me to a life of hopelessness and worse, it restricts the power of God!
Even though you may be battling the same sins over and over and over again, you have hope because it’s the Spirit of the living God that’s at work in you! By the power of God those sins can be weakened and destroyed. By the power of God you can be set free! Your chains can be broken!
This is what it means to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit!
When people believe they earn their salvation, I think it’s fair to say, they misunderstand the work of the Holy Spirit. They’re conflating two separate things that he does: the new birth or regeneration and sanctification.
They want to talk about how to be a better Christian, before they ask themselves, have I been born again? Am I even a Christian?
When you understand that the Holy Spirit applies salvation to Christians and empowers you and me to live the Christian life, suddenly things like the charismatic gifts seem small and irrelevant. Why do I want to limit the Holy Spirit to speaking in tongues? That’s too small. I want to live a Spirit-empowered life that glorifies the living God.
But first, you must be born again!
