Born Again.

Opening:

Good evening everyone. I am so glad you have decided to come out and worship with us for this special midweek service. We are grateful to have you. For those of you who don’t know me, I am pastor Jonathan Hansen. I am the pastor here at connection church. We meet every Sunday at 10 a.m. just across the street and we would love to have you come and join us.

The reason we gather is to worship God. We believe that the mission of the church is to worship God and see the whole world worshipping God. We worship God together through fellowship, singing, giving, learning, reading God’s Word and hearing it preached. With this in mind, we are going to worship now through the reading of God’s Word.

Introduction of the Text:

I will be preaching from John 3:1-19 today. If you don’t have a Bible, raise your hands and someone will bring a Bible to you. If you don’t own a Bible, keep that as our gift to you. The gospel of John was written by one of Jesus’ disciples named John. John was known as the beloved disciple. This meant that John and Jesus were very close. John was likely Jesus’ best friend while He was on earth. John wrote this account of Jesus’ life to tell people about how Jesus is God. John likely wrote this at the end of his life. He is wrapping up his life with a written account to pass the faith on to others. With this in mind, look with me at John 3:1-19.

Reading of the Text:

John 3:1-19 Now 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.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 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, “Truly, truly, 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 its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 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.

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

The Word of God, let’s pray.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you tonight for who you are. You are God. We know that we are sinners in need of grace. Lord, we also recognize that you do not have to give us grace. Lord, we thank you. We thank you for sending your Son. Lord, we thank you for salvation. I ask that if anyone here does not know you, that tonight they would come to know you. Draw them to yourself. Give them new birth. Bring them to life through the Spirit. We ask this in Jesus name, amen.

Transition:

As we open this passage, we see Nicodemus approaches Jesus.

Nicodemus Approaches Jesus.

Explanation:

Nicodemus was a Pharisee. He was one of the rulers of Israel. The Pharisees were a teaching and ruling class. They were the teachers of Israel. They were extremely learned. They had large portions of or possibly even the entire Old Testament memorized. They also were enemies of Jesus. Throughout Jesus’ ministry the gospels record multiple conflicts between Jesus and the Pharisees. As a whole, the Pharisees hated Jesus. He called them to repentance. Jesus’ most common criticism of the Pharisees is that they twisted the Word of God. They added in their own traditions and beliefs. They watered down the Scriptures and added their own thoughts into it.

Nicodemus is described as being one of this group. Likely he is higher up in the rankings because he is described as a ruler of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night. Perhaps this is because he was busy during the day, or he was attempting to be respectful of Jesus’ time since Jesus was very busy in the day. However, a common suggestion is that Nicodemus was curious about Jesus but wanted to keep his visit a secret. No matter the reason, we see the intent of his coming with Nicodemus’ first words.

He says to Jesus, “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.” This is quite the statement. Nicodemus starts by calling Jesus Rabbi. This was a title of respect. It means teacher, but the usage shows more than this. Nicodemus is stating his acceptance of Jesus as a teacher. He is not rejecting Jesus’ authority but upholding it. He continues says that “we know that you are a teacher come from God...” Who is this we? We know form the rest of the accounts that “we” cannot mean the entirety of the Pharisees, but it must at least mean some of the other Pharisees. Apparently there was a group of Pharisees that at minimum accepted that Jesus must be from God.

Argumentation:

Why do they think that Jesus must be from God? It is because of His mighty works. “For no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” This is an incredible statement. In some of the other gospels Jesus harshly rebukes the Pharisees for not seeing that His signs and wonders pointed to who He was. However Nicodemus and some others saw the truth!

What was so significant about the miracles? Well, we can often make the mistake of thinking that miracles were a constant thing. We can think that they were common. However this is not what we see. Miracles were incredibly rare. However, occasionally miracles became common. This was always linked to God moving in a special or unique way. In all of the Bible we really only see three periods of great miracles. The first was during the exodus until the taking of the promise land. God endued Moses and then Joshua with the ability to work great signs and wonders. The next time was the cleansing of Israel under the prophets Elijah and Elisha. Israel had rebelled greatly but God was calling them back. God, in both of these times, used great periods of miracles and signs to point to His work.

But what of the third time? The third time was when Jesus came. Jesus and the Apostles worked great signs and wonders. We even see some internal evidence within Acts and some of the letters that the period was ending by the end of the Apostels time. This was by far contains the most miracles of the three. This is why Jesus would get so mad at the Pharisees for missing the point. They were to be acquainted with the Old Testament. They should have seen God at work through all of the miracles Jesus was performing. Some did notice. This is why Nicodemus comes to Jesus. He saw the great signs and wonders and knew that God was working again. However, Nicodemus knew he was missing something. He did not understand. So he humbly comes to Jesus.

In great humility, this ruler and teacher comes to Jesus. I love Nicodemus. What an example! He is confused. Most people when they are confused bottle it up. They are so slow to ask questions. When someone is confused about Christianity, you know what doesn’t happen? I don’t get a call. They don’t ask questions. They don’t seek answers. But Nicodemus does. He is seeking the truth. And in this pursuit, he comes to inquire of Jesus.

Transition:

And he is rewarded. Jesus answers Nicodemus. But it is not the answer Nicodemus was expecting. In fact, Nicodemus has not even asked his question. Jesus just gives him the answer. Jesus says you must be born again.

You Must Be Born Again.

Explanation:

Really this must be explained in context. Chapter two of John ends with this statement, “24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.” Jesus knew what was in man. Jesus knew men’s hearts and minds. So we should not be surprised to see Jesus give the answer before the question is even asked. In fact, we should not be surprised that Jesus gives the ultimate answer before any question is asked.

Jesus seems to interrupt Nicodemus and says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” First things first, what does Jesus mean by saying “Truly, truly?” Why does He repeat that word? Jesus is saying that what He is saying is the truest truth. Repeating a word was a form of emphasis in that day. In English we use modifiers like “very” or “Extremely” or something else. In that culture, they repeated words. We still do this occasionally. If someone is greatly enjoying a steak they may say, “This steak is really, really great!” Jesus is saying that what He is saying is not just true, but truly true. It is more true than just true.

Truly, truly, unless you are born again you cannot enter the kingdom of God. This is a statement that we may hear often. Perhaps you have been asked, “Are you born again?” That phrase comes from here. However, we so seldom actually think about it. What does it mean to be born again? All of us were born once, but how can one be born a second time? This is Nicodemus’ thought. He had never heard this phrase, having never been to a Baptist revival meeting. So he asks a very logical question.

Verse four says “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?” This is the question. Nicodemus has just acknowledged Jesus as a great teacher and Jesus drops language about being born a second time. How is that possible? Can a grown man enter into his mother again to be birthed? If this is the way of salvation, then we are doomed.

Argumentation:

Nicodemus really hits the nail on the head here. If we aren’t careful we can hear phrases regularly and lose the meaning. In fact, I would wager that most Christians today have never really thought about the phrase “born again.” This is sad because Jesus says unless one is born again, they are not saved. The answer to this explanation is incredibly important. How can one be saved? Be born again! What does that mean? Nicodemus asked the most important question in human history.

Transition:

Jesus answers him. Jesus says you must be born of the Spirit.

You Must Be Born of The Spirit.

Explanation:

Jesus answers Nicodemus in verse 5. He says “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Perhaps this is not much as far as clarification, but it is important. What does that phrase “Born of water and the Spirit” mean? Well, here is the point where most competent theologians say, “I don’t know.” It is clear what the Spirit means. Jesus explains that in the next verse. The water part is confusing. However, I agree with men like R.C. Sproul who look at the culture of the day. In the culture of the day, water held the idea of cleansing. Water was a purifier. Anyone from that culture would have understood Jesus to be saying, “You must be cleansed and brought to life.”

Transition:

To me, this explanation seems to fit best into what Jesus is saying. Jesus continues His explanation saying that flesh births flesh, and Spirit births spirit.

Flesh Births Flesh, Spirit Births Spirit.

Explanation:

Jesus continues on in His explanation. “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 its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” There is a lot in these verses.

However, it makes sense. Those born of the flesh give birth to others of the flesh. Physical birth leads to being physically born. Therefore it must make sense that Spiritual birth must lead to being Spiritually born. Jesus is not saying that one must be born physically again in order to be saved. No, that would do no good. One must be Spiritually born.

Argumentation:

Birth is the illustration Jesus uses. It is a beautiful illustration. We must be born Spiritually. John has already set this illustration up. John 1:12-13 says this “12 But to all who did receive him(Jesus), who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” See that? Those who receive Jesus, who believe on His name are born not of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. Jesus uses this example because all of us have been born. Regardless of our age, financial circumstance, origin, family situation, we have all been born of the flesh. All of us have been born. And you know what else we all have in common? Not one of us had a say in our birth.

Did you give birth to yourself? No! Did you decide to be born? No. You were a passive participant in your birth. You cannot birth yourself! So must it be in new birth. Being born is not a picture of working for something. This is a common picture in Scripture. And it is because we have this innate desire to work for what we have. We have to work for all we have. If you want food, you work to earn money. There is an instant distrust of “free” things. We feel that we must work for something.

But here is the truth of salvation. We are sinners. Perhaps this does not frighten you, but it should. We have all sinned against God. God who is infinitely holy and righteous and beautiful and powerful. We have committed a lifetime of acts of treason against Him. We are His enemies. He is just in destroying us and sending us to hell. Just one of our sins against almighty God is enough to damn us to hell for eternity. There is no way for us to work hard enough or long enough to pay Him back. Beyond this, we are by nature sinful. Our very will is corrupted. Yes we have a will, we are free, but our will is sinful and corrupt. We will never choose God.

Here we are, hopeless and sinful. This is the picture in Ephesians 2:1-10. Listen to this. “2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 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. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

We are dead. We need knew life. We must be born again. We must be made alive. This is what we need. This is what you need. You must be born again. You are dead in your sins. “But God.” Those are the most beautiful words in history. We could never make ourselves right with God. So what hope do we have? We could not make ourselves be physically born, what hope do we have of making ourselves Spiritually born? How can a dead man bring himself back to life? As Stephen Lawson says, “All a dead man can do is stink.”

Transition:

Without God’s interaction, we are hopeless. We cannot come to God, so God came to us. He gives us new birth. He must bring us to life. But how? How does this happen? This is Nicodemus’ next question. He asks Jesus, “How can these things be?” Jesus answers him. Christ must be lifted up.

Christ is to be Lifted Up.

Explanation:

Jesus continues by saying ““Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 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.”

Nicodemus is hooked. He sees what Jesus is saying. This is not works that we may accomplish them. This is grace. But how? How can this be? Jesus says that he must be lifted up. He tells of the story of the bronze serpent. While Israel was wandering, they began to grumble. God sent poisonous snakes in amongst them. God told moses to cast a bronze serpent and put it high on a pole. It was to be lifted up, so that anyone who looked at it would be cured of the poisonous bites.

Argumentation:

This was a picture of what Jesus would do. Jesus came to be nailed to a cross. He would be lifted up. He would be lifted up so that all who look to Him will be saved. You see, this is the message of the gospel. We are dead. We must be born again. How? Look unto Christ. Christ came and paid the debt we owed.

This is the truth. This is the true truth. All of us are sinners. We are dead in our trespasses and sins. I think you all know this. You know the sin in your life. You know the hold it has on you. The Bible says that you are a slave to sin. You need to be set free. You need to be brought to life. The bad news is that there is nothing you can do to save yourself. You cannot save yourself. We so often think that I can work hard enough. I can do it! I can be good. Often pastors are met with the response of “I’m mostly a good person. I’ve done more good than bad.” We picture it like some sort of scale. If the good outweighs the bad then somehow we are good to go.

This is not how it works. This is not how any form of justice works. A murderer does not make a statement like “Well yeah I killed those people, but look at how many people I didn’t kill.” That is not a defense. You are guilty. We are all guilty. We need to be re-born. But we cannot do this. I cannot give you new life. You cannot give yourself new life. You are trapped in your sin and death. It is just for each one of us to go to hell. We act so angry when someone speaks of anyone going to hell. But why? This is justice. We are guilty. Justice demands that we be punished. You have committed atrocious sins against a holy God. Why are you surprised that this leads to hell? Jonathan Edwards got it right when he said that “It is the mere pleasure of God that keeps us out of hell for one moment.” He painted the picture of all of dangling over hell by a thread. Some of your shoes may even now be getting warm from the flames. You must be born again. When people realize the truth, the cry is always the same. “What must I do to be saved?” Are you here wondering this? Are you broken by your sins? Do you want to be free? Do you want to be washed clean?

Application:

This is the message. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”

Here this,“For God so loved the world. He loved the World. The world is rightly condemned from sin. But He loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, God sacrificed His Son. Christ came to die. What love. that whoever believes in him Just look to Christ, should not perish Born anew so as to never taste death but have eternal life Life forever. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world For the world is already condemned under sin, but in order that the world might be saved through him Christ is the only way. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, Here is true freedom but whoever does not believe is condemned already, Here is true death. because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. Rejection of Christ is acceptance of eternal death. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

Transition:

Here I have only two questions. Have you been born again? Or do you love darkness?

Have You Been Born Again?

If you have been born again, then you are saved. Your sins are forgiven and you are free. You are no longer dead but alive. You are alive in Christ. If you have not been born again then cry out to Christ today. Just like the bronze serpent, look unto Jesus and be ye saved. This is the cry that converted a young Charles Spurgeon. A service not unlike this one. People sitting and Spurgeon stumbles in from a snow storm. The preacher could not be present, so a layman had stood up to preach. His passage was Isaiah 45:22. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, For I am God, and there is none else.”

The poor man in the pulpit was rough hewn. He had no education to speak of but stood up and read the verse over and over again. Spurgeon recounts that he then began to say in a thick accent. “Look, tha all it takes. Look. It don take no special learnin. Just look. Anybody can look. Poor folk can look. Rich folk can look. Look unto Christ and be ye saved! Just look. Are you lookin? Why ain’t you looked? Look to Christ!” Spurgeon recounts the weight those words had on his heart.

He had been striving to live right. He thought he might be able to be good enough to be saved. It left him in despair. “Just look” the man bellowed from the pulpit. There was no use in his works. He could never be good enough to be saved. “Give up ye strivin and jus look!” came the cry. The weight broke. The young Charles Spurgeon gave up and cried out to God. He gave up trying to be saved on his own. He opened up and God gave him new life. He was born again.

This can too be your story. If you have never been saved, today you can be. Let go. Stop your striving and look to Christ. Place your faith in Him. Stop kicking against the goads. Stop resisting. Let go and give in. Christ died to save you. If you will only repent and turn to Him, you will be saved.

Transition:

But perhaps you are here and the ending of this passage is true about you. Do you love darkness?

Do You Love Darkness?

Perhaps you are here and you like your sin. You are not broken. You don’t even care. To you I give a dire warning. Repent or you will face the just fruits of your actions. How long do you think you can continue rebelling against God? I admonish you. Turn from your wicked ways and turn to Christ. If you will but look to Christ, you will be saved. However, if you harden yourself, you will continue in your sin. You are still dead. Your sin is still your master. You can be free of it if you will only look to Christ.

Reject it and find true life. Reject Christ and find only eternal death. You have a chance right now to turn and repent. Do not waste it. Every breath is a chance to cry out to God for forgiveness. How many breathes do you have left? Will you waste this one? What about this one? Turn to Christ and be born again. Do not love darkness. Love the light. Love Christ.

One day you will bow before Him. Christ did not come to judge the earth when He first came, but when He returns, He will judge. This is why we must all look. Turn to Christ and be born again. Be saved by the sovereign will of almighty God.

Let’s pray.

Prayer: