You Must Be Born Again Series

When John Wesley began a series of evangelistic meetings, he preached from John Chapter 3, You Must be Born Again. As the meetings went on people realized he was preaching that same message over and over. Someone asked him, when are you going to move on to something different? His answer, as soon as you are born again.

There is no use moving on to the “deeper truths” until you have experienced the most essential teaching in the Bible. That essential teaching is the new birth in Christ. There will be a lot of things demanding your attention, but this, being born again, you cannot afford to neglect.

If you neglect, or reject, the spiritual birth you will regret it. Not a regret just for the rest of your life, but for eternity. This life passes all too quickly. The spiritual birth is simple, but deeply profound. It is of utmost importance and urgency.

The phrase “Born Again” was spoke often in the 1970’s. One person who made the term well known was Chuck Colson who had a spiritual experience with Christ and then pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for his role in the Watergate scandal. He went to prison and wrote the book, Born Again in 1974.

On the heels of Colson’s book there was another high-profile focus on the phrase “born again” when Jimmy Carter described himself as a born-again Christian in his 1976 US presidential election campaign.

John Wesley did not originate the term “born again” nor did Chuck Colson. The term “born again” originated with Jesus and his fascinating conversation with one of the high-ranking religious leaders of his day, Nicodemus.

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” 3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” 4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ (John 3:1-7)

Jesus’ teaching on the new birth takes place in the context of a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. There was a contrast in who these two were. Jesus was a man with humble beginnings. Think of the Christmas story. No room in the inn for him, born in a stable among the animals. Yet in all these humble circumstances we know Jesus was Emmanuel, God with us. There was the angel’s announcement from heaven that a savior was born. There was the star in the sky that brought magi bringing gifts including gifts of gold to Jesus.

Jesus was not joining the establishment but starting something different. He gathered disciples, preached to crowds, performed miracles, and healed the sick. Jesus claimed to be the unique Son of God, equal with God. The Jews were waiting for the Messiah and Jesus claimed to be that Messiah.

With Jesus he did not leave a lot of room for neutrality. If you believed Jesus was the Son of God, you loved him. You would give up all to follow him. If you did not believe he was the son of God, you hated him. You might like many pick up stones to stone him because, if you thought he was a mere man that made himself out to be God, that is offensive.

The religious leaders of the day could not accept Jesus’ claim. He claimed to be the Son of God. He claimed to have power from God. He seemed to work miracles that proved his claims. But the religious leaders had an answer for that.

They said his miraculous power came from the devil. Jesus confronted and condemned the religious leaders. He called them snakes and whitewashed tombs. These are harsh words of denunciation in that time, in this time, in any time.

Now contrast Nicodemus. He is called a man of the Pharisees. These were the religious leaders that had important positions and they loved to publicly receive the praise of men. Nicodemus was among them.

Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews and a teacher of Israel. This term ruler of the Jews was another term for the “Sanhedrin”. This was the ruling council of 70 members. Nicodemus was at the top of the Jewish social ladder in terms of power and position.