Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

As I was talking with Matt one day after service, he shared with me that he loves airplanes.

You can ask Matt just about any question you want about airplanes and he will probably know the answer.

He can identify them by their various types, and he knows very well how the mechanics of flight work.

But one thing you won’t get Matt to do is to fly in one!

Matt believes airplanes can fly, but he isn’t willing to put his trust in one and get both feet off the ground.

I’m not trying to pick on Matt here.

The fact is that we all have areas of our life where we believe certain things, but our belief doesn’t move us to action.

I believe that parachutes work, but I’m not willing to put them to the test unless I’m forced to!

And this is just human nature.

FCF: As humans, we like to have it both ways, and many people bring that attitude with them to the topic of faith.

We like to profess our faith in Christ so that we get our “fire insurance,” but then keep on living as we wish.

We like to say that we believe but we’re reluctant to place our trust in Christ.

This passage reveals that without being born again—born from above—we are unable to exercise saving faith and we remain in our sins.

Main Idea: But, in John chapter 3, Jesus reveals that God has laid before every man two options.

We can believe and repent, placing our trust in Christ and thereby gaining eternal life, or we can reject him and perish.

Turn with me in your Bibles to the end of John chapter 2. We’re going to look today at Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, starting in John 2:23-3:21

By nature, we are all like Nicodemus.

This passage serves to exemplify “what was in man” from Jn. 2:25—insincere belief.

After seeing Jesus clear the Temple, Jn. 2:23 says that “man believed in his hame when they saw the signs that he was doing” but it also says that Jesus did not “commit himself” or “entrust himself” to anyone, “for he himself knew what was in man.”

This is a wordplay on the Greek word for “believe” or “trust.”

In essence, what the verse is saying is that while many people believed Jesus, he didn’t believe them.

Jesus isn’t just being cynical here, he knows that the belief of many of these people is very shallow, perhaps even false belief.

This conversation with Nicodemus is positioned immediately following this statement as a classic example of someone who had insufficient belief.

Nicodemus isn’t antagonistic towards Christ.

He seems to be genuinely seeking Jesus.

He acknowledges that Jesus is from God

Later in the passage Jesus seems to indicate that Nicodemus, despite his profession of faith, does not yet truly believe.

He is still like the other Pharisees.

Jesus’ insightful reply to Nicodemus in Jn. 3:3 reveals that some types of belief are not sufficient to save.

Nicodemus states “We know that you are a teacher come from God” and Jesus replies: “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Jesus’ reply seems to indicate a question which Nicodemus doesn’t state out loud.

Think about it.

Someone says to you, “I know that you’re a teacher from God because of the signs that you’ve done.”

What would your response be?

Would it be: “Unless you’re born again, you can’t see the kingdom of God?” Probably not…Unless, you could tell that there was some itching question which the person wasn’t stating out loud.

When my wife says, “Trash day is tomorrow,” do you think that she’s merely informing me of some random fact concerning the days of the week?

I used to, but after a few corrections, I’ve learned that “Trash day is tomorrow” is woman-ese for, “Honey, would you take out the trash?”

There’s an implied question that I had better not miss, or I will entirely miss the point of what she’s saying.

The reason that Jesus’ reply is so strange and seems so unsuited to the preceeding statement is that he’s picking up on an unverbalized concern Nicodemus has.

If we read between the lines, I think we might piece together Nicodemus’ itching question like this: “Jesus, we can’t refute the miracles you’ve done—they’re clearly from God—but we’re not convinced just yet that you’re the Son of God.”

Or, we could generalize the concern a bit in a way that applies to us today: “Why is it that some people seem to accept the facts about Jesus being the Son of God and dying for their sins but don’t seem to be following him?”

The answer that Jesus gives answers this question: “Unless you’re born again, born from above, you cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Those who accept a surface level gospel but never have the corresponding fruit in their lives are NOT BORN AGAIN.

Going back to the parable of the forgetful sower from last week’s sermon—the reason they have no tomatoes on their tomato vine is because they are not a tomato vine!

Now, we can dig in the dirt all we want to try to see what that seed looks like.

We can compare it to a tomato seed, and maybe it looks indistinguishable from a tomato seed.

But if it doesn’t make tomatoes, it will be ripped out and cast aside with the weeds.

Faith that doesn’t produce discipleship in our lives in insufficient to save.

It is worthless.

It is salt without saltiness.

It’s like believing in planes but refusing to fly in one.

It’s a fig tree that doesn’t make figs.

It’s like seeing someone shivering in the cold and saying “God bless you, I hope you get warm” without giving the man a coat!

Faith without works is dead.

And without God’s intervention, every one of us is like that.

Every one of us would be left in our sins as fruitless vines destined to be cast aside and burned on the day of judgment.

So what is a fruitless vine to do?

What is an unsaved, self-righteous Pharisee supposed to do?

You must be born again, born from above.

There is no hope for those who see the truth of the gospel but refuse to accept it!

They cannot, in their own strength, come to Christ any more than a weed can produce tomatoes!

The only solution is to be reborn a new person.

The word Jesus uses here (ἀνωθεν) actually has a dual meaning.

It’s one of many instances where John uses a wordplay in his gospel (we already saw one in Jn. 2:24!).

The word ἀνωθεν can mean either “again” or “from above.”

In English, we don’t have a word which can carry both of those meanings— “again” and “from above”—so translators have to choose one or the other.

Most translations choose “again” because that’s how Nicodemus understood it.

But Jesus’ reply to Nicodemus indicates that he had primarily the other meaning in mind— “You must be born from above.”

Jesus contrasts the physical with the spiritual, the earthly with the heavenly.

Jesus’ point is that in order to be able to accept spiritual truths you have to be born of God, born of the Spirit.

John has already stated this in the first few verses of his book:

Now this doesn’t mean that we can’t talk about being “born again,” because it definitely is like a second birth, and Jesus probably meant both.

“You must be born again, this time from above.”

His point was simply that the new birth is a spiritual one, not a physical one.

Jesus also points out that this birth is the work of the Holy Spirit, not of man.

Again, we have another wordplay here, this time from Hebrew.

The Hebrew word for “spirit” is the same as that for “wind,” ruach.

Jesus is comparing the Spirit’s movements to that of the wind—unseen and unpredictable by humans.

Just as you can’t tell where the wind came from or where it will go, so you can’t tell where the Spirit is coming from and where he will go.

The Spirit goes where he wishes and to whom he wishes.

We were not saved because we came to Christ.

We were saved because the Spirit brought us to Christ.

Can a dead man give himself life?

NO!

The work of salvation is primarily a work of God in our lives!

It’s not a matter of willing oneself to repentance.

We’re not born again because of the “will of the flesh nor the will of man.”

We’re able to be born again because God willed it.

The implications for this are huge!

When we’re trying to win someone to Christ, many times we approach evangelism as if it depended upon us, as if we had to have clever arguments and be able to overcome every objection that they throw at us.

But ultimately, it depends upon God!

When we urge sinners to be born again we must understand that we are speaking to a dead body, telling it to resurrect itself.

And unless the Lord opens their eyes, breathes life into their lungs, they will not repent.

So, if salvation depends upon the Spirit opening blind eyes and if the Spirit goes where and to whom he wishes, how are we to bring people to Christ?

We pray and we obey.

We pray for the Spirit to open the eyes of the blind, to breathe life into dry bones

And we boldly share the gospel as we have been commanded with a confidence rooted in the goodness of God

God loved us so much that he gave his only Son to pay the penalty for our sins.

When Christ died on that cross it was to pay for your sins.

For my sins.