I Must Be Born Again? Series

Find John 3, and thank you for joining us in a series entitled “Let’s Get Real: Answers to Life’s Biggest Questions.”

I read about a young man in 6th grade who was so good at his particular sport that former professionals came to his games. This young man was soon playing varsity when everyone else was dealing with their acne. Can you imagine playing varsity when you were in middle school?

Jesus jumps into a varsity-level religious conversation with a man, Nicodemus. Everyone knew how good Nicodemus was, but was Jesus ready for the varsity league? In a varsity-level religious conversation, Jesus turns the clock back to talk about birth.

Today’s Scripture

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 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.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 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?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 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.”

Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 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. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? o one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:1-15).

Again, it’s a varsity-level religious conversation.

Nicodemus comes at night because he likely wants to avoid being seen with Jesus (John 3:2). Maybe he just wants to speak to Jesus when the two can have a serious, uninterrupted conversation. Maybe Nicodemus wanted to ask Jesus questions with no one seeing him coming to Jesus. We are not exactly sure why he comes to Jesus at night.

Even if you come to Jesus at night, He still encourages you to come to Him in every conceivable way. Every one of us starts in the dark; it’s more important we go to the light.

1. An Exposed Heart

“Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man” (John 2:23-25).

It’s easy to get so engrossed in the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus that you forget what you just read. There is a chapter break that may cause you to forget what John has just immediately told you. John says, “Speaking of inadequate faith. Let me introduce you to Nicodemus.”

1.1 A Faith that Fails

Not everyone’s faith in Jesus is created equal. John says in effect, “Some people have inadequate faith.” If water were belief, then these people’s belief in Jesus would have been a puddle. And if patriotism were belief, this patriotism could veer off into Benedict Arnold kind of thing.

Nicodemus is exhibit one for John’s case. But Nicodemus isn’t alone.

We are now entering a section of John’s gospel that is really interesting because Jesus speaks to people with very different needs. As turn our attention to Jesus and Nicodemus, we arrive at a place where John features these different conversations Jesus has with all kinds of people. Jesus speaks to Nicodemus, whom we meet in a moment, but He speaks to a woman of a questionable background and a hated race in chapter 4 before speaking to a lame man and an official in chapter 5. A quick flip of the pages in the gospel of John and you’ll see what I’m talking about.