Born Again
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Born Again
Born Again
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.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Confession of Faith
I am not moved by what I see or by what I feel. I am moved by what I believe. I believe the WORD of God! The victory is mine! I have it now! I can see it through the eyes of my faith!
Intro:
Born Again
Born Again
This gift called The new birth, along with God's great love from
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
are the most important revelation ever made in all of human history.
So this man named Nicodemus approaches Jesus - because he had a question!
Nicodemus
Nicodemus
Nicodemus was a leader in Jewish culture
He was probably akin to being a Senator
Nicodemus was religious described as a Pharisee
Nicodemus held an official position of the highest rank. He was either the leading official or the leading teacher of Israel at that time
Nicodemus was apparently wealthy - we find later that he spent a great deal of money on the burial of Jesus
We find out later in John that when Jesus was on trial - Nicodemus was silent
did not say on e word in Jesus’s defense
But after Jesus was crucified he boldly stepped forth and publicly helped in the burial of Jesus
When we meet him in this text - we find that he is not just coming for himself - but he is representing a group of the religionists.
back then - just like today people who say the worship God - still want to know if Jesus is the Messiah
1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “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 said, "We know."
We see that He acknowledged Jesus only as a teacher from God.
He and other religious folks saw the miracles Jesus did, and they knew something: only a man from God could do such miracles.
So in essence, Nicodemus was asking, "Who are you?
Who Are You?
Who Are You?
The miracles show that God is with you, but you are claiming to be the Messiah, the Son of God.
That question is always prevalent!
13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
Flesh and blood won’t tell you who Jesus is you must start with being
Born Again
Born Again
After Nicodemus acknowledged Jesus as a teacher of God
Jesus did something interesting next
he did not respond to Nicodemus directly
He saw into the empty, searching heart of Nicodemus and saw the honesty of his question.
So here’s what Jesus did -He went right to the heart of the matter.
It wasn’t about miracles and signs were not what was important.
What was important was for Nicodemus to be changed:
Nicodemus needed to changed spiritually,
Nicodemus needed to be changed within,
Nicodemus needed to be changed completely
Nicodemus needed to undergo a spiritual change that could only be described as being
Born Again.
Born Again.
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.”
New Birth
New Birth
The new birth is a necessity,
The new Birth is imperative
Jesus Said "Except a man be born again."
The word "again" has three different meanings in Greek. I
It means... •
From the first: from the beginning or completely and fully
• Again:
A second time, or a repeated act.
• From above: from the top, which means from God
here’s my point
A man, a woman, a boy, a girl must be "born again."
They must be... • born completely and fully,
They must have a complete and full change.
They must be born all over again, in the sense of a second time.
They must be born from above, from God.
Then he hit him with you , "cannot see the kingdom of God."
If you are not "born again" you will never "see" oor "enter"the Kingdom of God.
You must be born again
You must be born again
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
New Birth
New Birth
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
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.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
The new birth is a spiritual birth.
See Nicodemus was puzzled by the words "born again."
He did not know what Jesus meant.
He understood Jesus to be saying that a man must be born a "second time."
Here is how Jesus answered Nicodemus
1. Jesus gave the source of the new birth.
It was being born of water, and of the Spirit water meaning physical - Spirit - spiritual birth
2. Jesus repeated the importance of being born again.
Jesus tells him you "can never see"
you can never grasp the kingdom of God
You can never understand the kingdom f God
You can never know the kingdom of God
you will never experience the Kingdom of God
Then he says you can never enter the Kingdom Of God
You will never gain entrance to the Kingdom of God
3. Jesus gave the nature of the new birth. It is spiritual, not physical and material
You see The flesh cannot bridge the gap between flesh and spirit.
Flesh is only flesh; it has no power to be born again, to become spirit
4. Jesus re-emphasized the absolute necessity of the new birth.
"Ye must be born again." The word "must" means absolute necessity, an imperative.
5. Jesus illustrated the point by picturing the wind.
The Spirit of God works just like the wind. We may not know how the wind works, but we can see the effects.
It is the same with the Spirit of God: we may not know how He works, but we can see the effects of His working.
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.
23 You have been born again, and this new life did not come from something that dies, but from something that cannot die. You were born again through God’s living message that continues forever.
The New Birth
The New Birth
9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”
10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?
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.
The new birth is a true experience,
The new birth is a definite experience
Nicodemus' heart was touched by what Jesus was saying, and he wanted to know what was meant by being "born again."
He did not know, but he wanted to know.
Think how many people who do not even care to know. about the new birth
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.
Hear is the sad part
There are many Nicodemus’s today .
He was educated, knowledgeable, a leader and powerful, but he didn’t know!
He did not know about spiritual things!
11 I tell you the truth, we talk about what we know, and we tell about what we have seen, but you don’t accept what we tell you.
Many times the new birth is rejected.
Jesus says you don’t receive what I’m telling you and you won’t believe it
Apparently, Nicodemus did not believe and receive Jesus at this point in his life. He did what so many do: he rejected Jesus.
It is man's nature not to believe
You must believe and be Born Again!
13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven.
Jesus tells us He came down from heaven.
No man can ascend up into heaven;
No man can penetrate the spiritual world.
Flesh is flesh,
Flesh is born of this earth; therefore, it is earthly
47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven.
Jesus Christ is different from all other men.
His origin was out of heaven, out of the spiritual world and dimension of being.
Jesus tell us that He is timeless.
"The Son of Man which is in heaven"
That means His existence and experience are timeless.
He is eternal
33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
You must be Born Again
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.
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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.
The New Birth
The New Birth
The new birth is secured by two acts.
1. The first act is Jesus' death.
Jesus illustrated His point by using the Old Testament story of Moses lifting up the bronze serpent in the wilderness
(Numbers 21:4-9).
The children of Israel had begun to murmur and grumble about the trials of the wilderness, wishing they had never left Egypt.
God disciplined them by sending fiery serpents to plague them.
The discipline worked; the people repented and begged for mercy.
God met the people's need by telling Moses to make a bronze image of a serpent and to hold it up upon a pole in the midst of the people.
The person who looked upon the lifted up serpent was healed.
This is what Jesus is saying
He must be lifted up just as the serpent was lifted up.
What did He mean?
There are several pictures here.
a. The people of Israel had great need, for they were dying from the poison of the fiery serpents.
Men, women, boys and girls are dying today from the poison of the serpent,
the deadly poison of sin.
b. The serpent is a symbol of the evil one, Satan
Jesus Christ destroyed the works of the devil by being lifted up
(Hebrews 2:14-15);
This is why the serpent hanging upon the pole symbolized the defeat of Satan.
By looking upon the defeated evil (the serpent), Israel was healed.
Today man is healed by looking upon the Son of Man who has been lifted up upon the cross.
31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”
c. The serpent was a cursed creature from the very beginning
Jesus became a curse for man
13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),
2. The second act is our belief in Jesus.
The person who believes in the Son of Man being lifted up... • will not perish
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.
3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
If an Israelite believed God's message (the good news of healing), he looked upon the lifted up serpent, and he was healed.
If a man did not believe God's message, he did not look, and he died.
Man, that’s how it is today it is with us today:
Every person must believe the message of Christ in order to be healed, in order to be born again.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
You Must be Born Again
You Must be Born Again
Next Steps: Week 9 - Reading Thru The Bible Sunday - 1Cor 1-2
Monday - Gen 32-35
Tuesday -Judges 17-21
Wednesday - Ps. 24-26
Thursday - Job 17-18
Friday - Isa 45-50
Saturday - Matt 23-25