Second Birth

John 3:1–8 NIV84

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” 3 In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” 4 “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” 5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

1. The need for the Second Birth

The first birth is under Adam

Romans 5:12 “12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—”

Romans 3:23 “23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

We can’t see the Kingdom of God under the first birth

1 Corinthians 2:14 “14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

The Second Birth restores our relationship with God

Romans 5:19 “19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”

2. The process of the Second Birth

We must believe in the Gift of God

John 3:16 “16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

We must repent of our sins

Acts 3:19 “19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,”

We must confess that Jesus is Lord

Romans 10:9–10 “9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”

3. The evidence of the Second Birth

We must be transformed (a changed life)

2 Corinthians 5:17 “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

We must have a changed mind

Romans 12:2 “2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Produce fruit in keeping with repentance

Matthew 3:8 “8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”

Our fruit reveals our relationship with God

Matthew 7:15–16 “15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?”

Judge a book by its cover

The Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22–23 “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

4. The assurance of the Second Birth

Adoption into God’s Family

Romans 8:15 “15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.””

God’s Faithfulness — He will never leave you

Philippians 1:6 “6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

1 Corinthians 3:16 “16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?”

Eternal life for those who experience the Second Birth

John 3:16 “16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

John 10:28 “28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.”