You Must Be Born Again (Part 2)
Notes
Transcript
Doxology:
This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart, that I might not sin against God. Amen!
Scripture Reference: John 3:11-15
Context
Context
Jesus is in the middle of a conversation with a devout religious leader named Nicodemus. Nicodemus has come to Him by night asking questions concerning His ministry.
Jesus gives Nicodemus the most important, yet most fundamental spiritual reality in existence and Nicodemus can not understand.
This reality: You must be born again. That’s it.
If you want to be able to see the kingdom of God, be a part of the kingdom of God, or to operate inside the kingdom of God.......you must be born again.
Nicodemus is struggling with this most basic spiritual principle and we discussed how this is the world’s greatest tragedy. How someone could go their entire lives working towards something that will ultimately leave them empty and void. Without Jesus, we have no hope, and so many fail to see this truth.
Jesus is about to go deeper into this idea of being born again. Jesus is about to expound on, “The World’s Greatest Truth”.
11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.
12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Content
Content
The Basis of This Truth
The Basis of This Truth
This is the third time we see this implication of truth given.
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.
This phrase, “Most assuredly” is translated in the KJV as “Verily, verily”. The words literally mean, “Truly, truly”. In other words, Jesus is telling Nicodemus, “You need to pay attention, because what I am about to say is absolute truth.
Absolute truth is something almost completely absent in our culture. It is constant, unchanging, and unavoidable. It does not falter and it does not fail. It does not change with the passing of time and it does not grow weary amidst the changes of culture.
Absolute truth has always been, still is, and always will be. It is constant and consistent.
This concept is almost foreign to us today. Our culture in America is changing so rapidly that the truths of today seem to be the scams of tomorrow. We do not recognize absolute truth because we rarely ever see it. The only truths we seem to be privy to today are relative, and they are anything but constant and consistent.
Relative truth changes. It adapts to fit the needs of each individual. It adapts to fit the needs of the culture. And because of its ever changing state, it is absolute in only one sense: It is absolutely dangerous.
The danger of relative truth lies within its attempt to masquerade absolute truth. It is perceived as truth, but only by the individual of whom it applies to or benefits. When applied to someone of different circumstance, it does not seem to fit.
So we here phrases like, “You do you and I will do me.” “Do what makes you happy.” “Do whatever helps you sleep at night.” “It may be good for you, but it is not good for me.”
You can see how this vain attempt falls short of absolute truth.
Jesus is speaking here to Nicodemus with absolute truth. This truth He speaks of fits every person, in every walk of life. Regardless of where they are born, how they are raised, what religion they were taught to follow or adhere to, what sin may lie in their past, or plans they may have for the future, this truth applies to all: You must be born again.
Notice how Jesus illustrates the basis of this truth to Nicodemus:
“We speak what We know and testify what We have seen...”
What “We know” and what “We have seen”. We speak only truth. We speak from experience.
This is not theoretical. This is not philosophical. This is not just mere logic and reason. This is not based upon hopes and dreams. This is absolute truth.
We speak from what we have personally seen and know to be true.
Notice that Jesus uses the pronoun “We”.
He is included in that “We”. If He is included, this means that He is speaking from not only experience, but from creation. Jesus was the One who spoke everything into existence. He was the one who put everything into motion.
Jesus was present in the Garden of Eden before the fall of man. Jesus was present after the fall when mankind first began to live on their own. He has seen all the mistakes, all the problems, and deepest, darkest part of man throughout their history, and if anyone knows the answer to man’s problem, it is Him.
And what is His answer for mankind’s redemption? You must be born again.
It’s the only way. There is no other way. This is only option.
The basis of this truth is founded upon thousands of years of observance, multiple types of spiritual leaders, the perfect law of God, amongst many other things.
Mankind’s only hope: We must be born again.
The Boundary of This Truth
The Boundary of This Truth
12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
This truth comes with a boundary. The boundary is based upon the belief of the individual.
Nicodemus is a very intellectual individual. He has been trained in the Scriptures, trained in the law of God, and is as close to a scholar as one could get in those days. He knows the letter of God’s law in and out, but yet he is struggling to understand this most basic truth: that man must be born again to see the kingdom of God.
Now this brings up a question: What determines who can understand this truth and who cannot?
Some will say that God decides. God determines who can understand their need for a rebirth. Mankind has absolutely nothing to do with it.
They would say that Nicodemus could not understand this truth because God did not open his mind to understand it.
It is a theology known as Calvinism, or as many seem to be calling it today, “Reformed Theology”. Our seminaries are pushing this theology today. Many of the pastors coming out of these seminaries are adhering to this theology. To be quite honest, I would venture to say that it is the fastest growing theology today.
It teaches that salvation is completely a work of God, which I would agree with, but goes farther to say that God elects, or chooses, those who will be saved and does not elect those who are lost.
It further states, that even though these poor souls who are not elected, or chosen, by God to be saved cannot come to Christ, they are still held accountable to God for not choosing to follow Him.
This theology takes away the free will of man. I do not believe this and cannot get on board with this theology.
We see right here in this text a man who is searching for truth. He comes to Jesus asking questions concerning the kingdom of God, and what man must do to gain access unto it. Jesus is explaining the truth, but Nicodemus is choosing not to accept Jesus’s teaching.
11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.
Jesus says, “You do not believe.” It is a choice. Jesus died for all who would believe, whosoever would believe, but it is a choice.
The boundary of this truth is based simply upon the belief of the truth itself. For those who believe it, Christ will take you deeper into its understanding, but for those who do not believe it, you will never go deeper into its understanding. You can’t.
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
A worldly man cannot perceive the spiritual truths of God. This is why so many are confused about the Scriptures. They study the letter of the Word, just like Nicodemus, but without being born again, they cannot understand the deeper truths of the Word. Without the Spirit of God, one cannot break through into the deeper truths of Scripture.
You might say, “Ok, but what about this very instance? One cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit until after conversion and Nicodemus is struggling to understand this most basic truth, concerning salvation itself. How do you explain that?”
That’s a great question, but we are not at the end of the text yet. As we continue, Jesus explains this truth. He explains what being born again looks like. He explains how this process looks, and what must be done to achieve it.
Also notice that Jesus says He has only shared earthly truth so far. Being born again is an earthly thing. Going beyond the rebirth is to get into heavenly things. Jesus is telling Nicodemus exactly what we have already witnessed in the Scriptures. A worldly man can only go so far into understanding the truths of God. There is no sense in going any farther. “Even if I told you, you wouldn’t understand,” Jesus is saying.
The Binding of This Truth
The Binding of This Truth
13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.
I believe Jesus is here emphasizing what He has already stated in vs. 6:
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Jesus is telling Nicodemus that the only one who knows the Father is the one who came from the Father. No one else can understand these heavenly things apart from Him. He came from the Father, so He alone knows the depths of these spiritual things. All others must be born again, born anew, born through the presence of God into a new creature, a creature that is formed in godliness and dwelt by His presence. Then, and only then, can one begin to perceive these heavenly things.
He emphasizing to Nicodemus that there is no other way. There is not a Book you can buy to help you understand it more deeply. There is not a ritual to perform that will get you there. There is not a lifestyle change that will do it for you. There is not a enough hours in the day to work your way there.
There is no other way. It is binding. It is set in place. It has been decided. Nothing else will accomplish it. You must be born again!!!
The Belief of This Truth
The Belief of This Truth
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Here we have the crux of the explanation. Jesus finally gets to the best part. He tells Nicodemus that in order to be born again:
The Son of Man must be lifted up
One must believe in Him
Those who do those two things will not perish but have eternal life.
Now Jesus is using an illustration from the OT Scriptures to drive home the truth of this understanding.
Now here is the text Jesus is referring to:
4 Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way.
5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.”
6 So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.
7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”
9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
They murmured against God and He sent fiery serpents, vipers upon them.
These snakes were so poisonous that many Israelites died from their bite it said.
They then knew that they had sinned against God and asked Moses to intercede to God on their behalf.
God told them to put a bronze serpent on a pole, lift it high above the camp, and when someone was bitten, they had to look at that pole to be spared.
We are the Israelites. We have all been bitten. So many of our friends and loved ones have gone on before us as a result of this poisonous snake. The poison is sin. It plagues us all. We are all headed for death.
God looked down in mercy and said, “I will send my son to die in your place.”
He was exalted on the cross of Calvary so that all men could look upon Him.
He is your only hope. Once you have been bitten, you must gaze upon Him in belief. This is not a casual gaze, this is an intense stare. You must perceive Him on the cross. You must see the price He paid for your redemption. You must believe that He conquered sin by living a perfect life. You must believe that He is the only answer to your survival.
And once you have believed on Him, trusted Him, and surrendered to Him can you be cured of the poison running through your veins. He is your only hope.
You must be born again!
Commitment
Commitment
As we come to a close, I want to ask everyone to bow your heads and close your eyes.
First, I want to talk to those who are saved. Maybe God has spoke to you today about something in your life that is not as it should be. Maybe there is conviction there and you know it is not ok.
If that is you, I want you to raise your hand. Ok. Now, I want you to come on. There is plenty of room up here. If you can’t kneel, then come and set on the front row right here. Come pour your heart out to God.
Now, I want to talk to those who are not saved. If that’s you, you know who you are. God is doing something inside your heart right now. He is speaking to you. You can feel it and you know that you need to be saved. If that is you, I want you to be very brave right now and hold your hand up.
Now, I want you to even braver. This altar is already full. You will not be alone. Someone is going to pray with you as you come. If you lifted your hand and said, “I need to be saved”, then I want you step out and come down here to talk with God. Today is your day. Come on. The longer you wait, the longer you give the devil time to talk you out of it. Don’t do it. Just come.