Sermon Cloud

© Eric M Schumacher – Preached September 23, 2007 at Northbrook Baptist Church , Cedar Rapids, Iowa

The theme of John 2 was “the old is gone, the new has come.” The old water of Jewish purification rites is replaced by the new wine of the kingdom. The old Temple in Jerusalem is replaced by the new temple of Jesus ’ body. In chapter 3, Jesus will state in no uncertain terms that if we want a part in the “new” that is arriving in Jesus, then we also must be given a new nature, a new birth.

Not everyone who professes belief in Jesus is truly a believer. A mere interest in Jesus is not evidence of genuine discipleship. (cf John 6:60-66)

Jesus was performing signs in Jerusalem . Outwardly, people “believed in his name.” And Jesus was refusing to entrust himself to them, because he knew what was in man. Jesus does not entrust himself to those who do not truly trust in him.

Jesus is able to see through façades; he cannot be enticed or caught off-guard by the flattery of man. This is because Jesus “knew all men and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.”

Nicodemus

One such example of “man” that Jesus knew what was in was Nicodemus.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a member of the preeminent Jewish sect of the day. In their day, they were known as exceedingly moral men.

Nicodemus was “a ruler of the Jews.” This almost certainly refers to him being a member of the Sanhedrin, which was the “highest national body in charge of Jewish affairs.” Nicodemus was a man of political power.

In verse 10, Jesus refers to Nicodemus as “the teacher of Israel .” He uses the definite article “the,” so as to emphasize that Nicodemus is not just “a” teacher, but “the” teacher of Israel . Whether this was a title, a nickname, or his reputation, Nicodemus was apparently known for his knowledge and ability to teach.

We Know…

Speculation abounds for why Nicodemus came at night. We cannot say for certain. Regardless, we will find that Nicodemus is walking in a ‘darkness’ that is darker than he ever dared imagine.

Nicodemus begins his address to Jesus with a respectful comment: “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.” But he falls short of confessing Jesus as “the Messiah,” “the King of Israel,” and “the Son of God.”

Nicodemus, like so many deceived people today, is willing to confess that Jesus was a great teacher, even gifted with remarkable abilities from God, but he does not fall at his feet and call him Lord.

Jesus’ Response

Jesus, who knows what is in man, replies, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot enter the kingdom of God .” Jesus lays his axe at the root of the tree and with one swing cuts down everything in which Nicodemus had to boast.

Jesus is not intimidated by “the teacher of Israel .” Instead, he assumes the place as the teacher, putting on a clinic in Kingdom Theology in which “the teacher of Israel ” becomes the astonished and ignorant pupil.

Jesus is not flattered by the attention of “a ruler of the Jews.” Rather, Jesus, who had attached himself to no rabbi, does not begin by appealing to some higher teacher, he asserts his own authority, even over “a ruler of the Jews”—“I say to you…”

Jesus is not impressed with Nicodemus’ standing as “a man of the Pharisees.” Though outwardly an exceedingly moral man, Jesus asserts that if Nicodemus wants to see the kingdom of God , then a radical transformation of his entire person—new birth—is required.

The Kingdom of God

Jesus speaks of the “ kingdom of God .” The Old Testament asserts the universal sovereignty of God, his reign over everyone and everything. Psalm 103:19 makes clear, “The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.”

But when the Bible speaks of the “ kingdom of God ,” it generally refers to something more specific than God’s universal sovereignty. Graeme Goldsworthy offers as a concise definition: “The kingdom is God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule.” That is what was present in the Garden of Eden. That is what was lost in the Fall, when Adam rebelled against God’s rule and was driven out of God’s place. And the redemption of that kingdom is the topic the rest of the Bible.

The Old Testament spoke of a kingdom at the end of history, ruled by the representative of the Lord, culminating in a resurrection of God’s people to everlasting life (Dan 12:2; Zech 9:9-10; 14:9; Is 42:1; 49:1; 9:1-7, 11). This comes through Jesus, the Word who was God and who was with God and who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1, 14). Jesus can declare, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (11:25). The Kingdom of God is the “saving reign of God”: the redeemed and resurrected people of God forever living in God’s place under God’s rule through his anointed Servant King, who is Jesus.

To “see” or “enter” the kingdom is to participate in resurrection life. When one is “born again,” they have begun to experience life in the kingdom; they have a foretaste and down-payment of the resurrection to come. The fullest expression of the Kingdom of God will be the New Heavens and New Earth in which God’s resurrected people will dwell with him forever. That is the hope of God’s people.

New Birth

For Nicodemus to “see the kingdom,” he must be “born again.” The word translated “again” can mean “a second time” or “from above.” Jesus is purposely speaking with double meaning. The change required is so radical that it could be considered a “second birth.” You become, as Paul writes (1 Co 5:17), “a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

In Matthew 19:28, when Jesus is speaking to his disciples about the new world, he calls it the “regeneration,” which comes from a Greek word meaning “born again.” If the coming kingdom coming at the end of the world is “regeneration,” then those who would live in it must be “regenerated” themselves before the end of the world to be fit to be its citizens.

This must have come as a surprise to Nicodemus (if and when he finally grasped what Jesus was actually speaking about). The prevailing thought in Israel was that all Jews would enter the kingdom, except those guilty of deliberate apostasy or extraordinary wickedness. Nicodemus possessed moral excellence (outwardly, at least), political power and remarkable scholarship. Nicodemus was a highly respected and conscientious member of Israel ! If anyone would enter the kingdom, one would assume that Nicodemus would find his name at the top of the list. Even so, he will find out that this is not enough to gain entrance into the kingdom. Even for someone like Nicodemus to enter the kingdom, he must be born again.

So, as you formulate your theology of Israel and ponder what role ethnic Israel will have to play in God’s Kingdom, keep this passage front and center. Jesus says to a man who is a “Jew of Jews,” the cream of the crop, that if he wants to see the kingdom, he must be born again. As Paul writes in Galatians 6:15, “For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” If you are not born again, you will not enter the kingdom.

John 3:4-8 – The New Birth Explained

Nicodemus takes Jesus’ words in a crassly literal sense. He wonders, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Jesus answers by rephrasing his statement: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God .”

To “see” the kingdom is not to “enter” the kingdom. To be “born again/from above,” is to be “born of water and spirit.”

A host of ideas has been offered to interpret what Jesus meant by “born of water and spirit” It has been suggested that Jesus is referring to John’s baptism of repentance or the ceremonial washing of the Jews or to the Torah (Word of God) being referred to as water.

A prominent one is that Jesus is speaking of physical birth and spiritual birth. The “water” then represents the amniotic fluid in the womb and the “spirit” represents the Holy Spirit. The problem with this view is that when Jesus says “born of water and spirit,” the grammatical construction of the statement makes it clear that Jesus is speaking of one, simultaneous event. Jesus is referring to one birth—a birth of water and spirit—that takes place at one time.

The majority view is that Jesus is referring to Christian baptism. The problem of this is that while John’s baptism was known, Christian baptism was not yet instituted. This would have lacked relevance to Nicodemus. Moreover, if water baptism is so important to rebirth, then why does Jesus not refer to it again in the remainder of his explanation, but focus instead on the role of the Spirit?

We find help in verse 10 where Jesus chides Nicodemus for not understanding, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” Apparently, someone who is the teacher of Israel , an expert in the Scriptures (what we call the Old Testament) should have readily understood what Jesus was talking about. That tells us that we should turn to the Old Testament to give a background to what Jesus means by being “born of water and spirit.”

The Old Testament spoke of an end-time work in which the Lord would pour out his Spirit like water into his people, resulting in an inner renewal that cleansed his covenant people from all uncleanness and giving them new hearts that walk in holiness. (Jl 2:28; Acts 2:17; Is 32:15-20; 44:3)

This water-Spirit imagery is clear in Ezekiel 36:25-27, where the Lord speaks of the coming new covenant in (cf Jer 31:31-34; Ezek 11:19-20):

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Putting his Spirit into his people is illustrated by the sprinkling of water to cleanse from filth. The giving of new hearts speaks to the regeneration of individuals, not just to the nation as a whole.

This kind of change is what Jesus tells Nicodemus is required to enter the kingdom of God .

Like Begets Like

To enter the kingdom of God , you must be godly. To enter a kingdom characterized by “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control,” then you must display these same qualities, which Paul calls the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal 5:19-23).

You cannot enter the kingdom if you are a person characterized by “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these.” Those qualities Paul calls the “works of the flesh” and writes, “I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God .”

Like begets like. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” No matter who your parents are—Jew or Gentile—they could only give you a birth of the flesh. Humans can only give birth to human children.

“That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The new nature required to enter the kingdom of God can only be given by God. If you want to have eternal life, to experience resurrection life, to enter the kingdom of God , the Spirit of God must enter you and change you. You must be born again.

This was clear in the writings of the Old Testament—those things that are unclean cannot exist in the kingdom of God . Therefore, Jesus says, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” It should have been no surprise to Nicodemus.

Jesus the Evangelist

We can learn something from watching Jesus do evangelism:

First, Jesus did not fear man; he feared God and spoke the truth to all. Jesus is not above telling people the truth. Jesus is not above disappointing, rebuking, or even insulting a man. Jesus is not afraid to wound the ego—even when dealing with someone of such a “high class” as Nicodemus.

If your life is governed by a driving desire to always make people feel comfortable and to never offend anyone, then you are not like Jesus, and you will very likely never help anyone come to know him or grow to be more like him.

When Jesus did evangelism, his concern was not to help people realize their potential, to boost their self-esteem or to see that you can “be cool and be a Christian at the same time.” His goal was to help people see that they are utterly empty, unworthy and unable to enter the kingdom, and desperately in need of what he alone could give them.

Jesus brought them to a place where they either went away from him sad (or mad) or they had to confess their radical emptiness, fall at his feet, trust in him and plead for mercy.

Second, new birth is necessary for anyone enter the kingdom of God . Everyone, regardless of intellect, ethnicity, reputation or outward moral excellence, needs to be born again to enter the kingdom of God . Therefore, we must be about the business of preaching the Gospel to every one, even to respected political leaders, religious teachers and the moral elite.

No matter how studied you are in the Scriptures, no matter how many years you have been in the leadership of the church, and no matter how outwardly impeccable your life may appear—to enter the kingdom of God, you must be born again.

And this fits with John’s emphasis in chapter 1, when he wrote in John 1:12-13, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” It is not by means of human birth or will that one enters the kingdom—but by being “born of God.” This means that whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, whether you are from the United States or from Singapore, the only way that you can enter the kingdom of God is by being born again.

Third, Jesus preached repentance when he preached the Gospel. Jesus was not afraid to point out false faith. Jesus did not preach a gospel of cheap grace that gives comfort and assurance to those who remained in their sins. Jesus was not afraid to say to an outwardly moral person who professed faith in him, “You must be born again.”

Fourth, new birth is required for assurance of salvation. John, who wrote this Gospel, also wrote the letter we call First John. In that letter, he writes (3:4-10):

Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

John clearly states that if the habitual, unrepentant practice of sin characterizes your life, then you have not been born of God. Where does John get this theology? From the words of his Lord, recorded here in John 3. To enter the Kingdom, you must be born again. That is the gospel according to Jesus.

Fifth, Jesus is teaches that man is wholly depraved and incapable of entering the Kingdom on his own. Therefore, salvation must be the work of God from start to finish. To be “depraved” means to be corrupt. That we are “wholly depraved” does not mean that we are as corrupt as we could possibly be. After all, Nicodemus would have had several qualities that we would consider admirable. Rather, this means that the whole of us, every part of us is corrupted by sin. This is what Paul means in Ephesians 2 when he writes that we were “dead in trespasses and sins…by nature children of wrath” and that “God made us alive.”

Notice this—Jesus said that Nicodemus, like all men, are in need of a moral transformation so radical that it can only be described as a “rebirth.” Jesus did not say that Nicodemus needed improvement in a few areas. Jesus did not say that Nicodemus needed to amend or infuse addition righteousness to some good that was already present. Jesus insists that he needs a renewal of his entire nature. Therefore, everything within man is defective.

But, if everything within man is defective, it follows that no part of man is capable of doing what is required to be saved. There is no part of him that does good or wants to do good (Rom 3). That is why Jesus says that we must be “born from above.” Salvation is the work of God, and not the work of man.

Sixth, we should be utterly humbled, and give God all the glory. In Ephesians 2, Paul tells us that God has made salvation a gift so that “no one may boast.”

When we read of our need to be “born from above,” it reminds us that salvation is all God’s work. When you were physically born, you contributed nothing to your birth. When you are spiritually born, it is from the Spirit not from of yourself. Therefore, if you have been saved, you should fall on your face in utter humility before the God who showed you lovingkindness in your helpless state. Though we were children of darkness, full of sin and wholly depraved, by his grace and for his glory God has caused us to be saved. If he had not chosen to act, you would be headed for hell.

The Sovereign, Mysterious Spirit of God

Jesus goes on to say, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.” In Greek (as well as in Hebrew), the word for “wind” and “spirit” is the same. Jesus is using this play on words to draw an analogy between the way the spirit works in regeneration and the way the wind works.

Jesus says that the wind cannot be controlled or understood by man, it “blows where it wishes” and you “do not know where it comes from or where it goes.”

However, “you hear its sound.” You can see the effects of the wind—you hear it, feel it, and see the things it moves.

We can conclude that the Spirit cannot be controlled or understood, but his effects can be seen. The Spirit is sovereign; we cannot force him to work or to regenerate anyone, even ourselves. The Spirit cannot be explained.

God’s reasons for being gracious to whom he will be gracious and merciful to whom he is merciful are mysterious. We do not know why, as a sermon is being preached, one soul sits here and is convicted of sin, repents and believes the gospel while the person next to them is totally unaffected. The only thing that we can do is see the effects of the Spirit’s working—a people born again by God and for God.

“And so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Those who are born again are not so because a person manipulated them into being so converted. Neither can they be explained by the unbelieving world. Their change can only be seen. Regeneration is the sovereign and unexplainable work of the Spirit of God. The life-giving, soul-reviving work of the Holy Spirit is what Jonathan Edwards called, “The surprising work of God.”

This is illustrated in Ezekiel 37. The Lord brought the prophet Ezekiel out into the middle of a valley full of bones. The Lord commanded Ezekiel, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.” And as Ezekiel proclaimed the word of the Lord, the bones joined together and took on flesh and the Spirit of the Lord filled them and gave them life.

When I preach, I do not expect that my explanation of the passage, my outline of my points or the way in which I speak will cause any of you to believe. My prayer is that as I preach what God’s word says, that he will send his Spirit to breathe into you and to cause you to be born again.

A Necessity, Not a Command

I want you to notice something very important in this passage. Notice that Jesus is not giving a command, but asserting a necessity. Jesus is not instructing Nicodemus in what he must do, but stating what must occur. Jesus states that it is necessary to be born again—“You must be born again.” But he does not command Nicodemus, he does not say, “Be born again.”

Nowhere in Scripture (that I can find) is new birth (regeneration) commanded. Therefore, it is not the place of the evangelist to command his audience to be born again. It is his place to tell him that he must be and to point him to the means through which that occurs—the Spirit of God applying the work of the crucified and risen Messiah.

Being “born again” is not man’s work. It is the Lord who caused breath to enter the bones and give them life. It is God’s work, done by his spirit through his word, as the Apostle Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again …” This is the same emphasis given as Ephesians 2 where Paul writes that new birth “is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

This is why being “born again” is not commanded—it is the Spirit’s work, which cannot be forced or manipulated by man. Nevertheless, it is required.

Examine Yourself

Therefore, I exhort you to examine yourself this morning. Do you show the marks of someone who has been born again? Are you characterized by a hatred for sin and by repentance? Are you striving to love the Lord Jesus Christ, to abide in his word and to love his people? Do you confess that you are entirely sinful and can only be saved through the work of God? Is your hope set in the mercy of God found in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ?

If so, let no proud thoughts enter your mind this morning. Rather, humble your heart and give God the glory for the salvation that he has worked in your soul.

If you find that you are not born again, do not set yourself on trying to be. Do not determine to cleanse yourself or to make yourself new. If Jesus Christ has taught anything in this passage, it is that you are in need of transformation, and that the cleansing you need must come from above.

The cleansing that the Spirit brings is the application of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. In verse 14, Jesus will say that he must be “lifted up,” that is, he must be crucified on a cross, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

When Jesus was lifted up to die, he was dying beneath the wrath of God as a substitute for sinners. The wrath that we deserve for our uncleanness was poured out Jesus Christ. And, when the Holy Spirit produces faith in our hearts so that we cry out to God for mercy, the perfect, spot-free righteousness of Jesus Christ is counted as ours. And, we are made alive, into new creatures through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, if you find yourself to be not born again this morning, do not go home to do works. Do not go to false rituals of purification. Do not try to balance out your karma. Go to the cross. Look to the crucified and risen Son. Cry out to the Lord for mercy in the name of Jesus Christ. And he will save you.

Do this, for you must be born again.