Note: I used Preachers Sermon and Outline Bible book on John for notes and research.
Title: Unless You are Born Again
Theme:
Text: Joh 3:1-21
Introduction
Views of the Gospels
Matthew – Jesus Messiah
Mark – Jesus Servant
Luke – Jesus Son of Man
John – Jesus Son of God
People sometimes say that Jesus never claimed to be God. John proves them wrong.
John 14:6 Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
John 1 “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God, He was in the beginning with God”
“I AM that I AM” : Exodus 3:14
• I AM the Bread of Life Ch. 6
• I AM the Light of the World Ch. 8
• I AM the Door of the Sheep Ch. 10
• I AM the Good Shepherd Ch. 10
• I AM the Resurrection and Life Ch. 11:25
• I AM the Way, the Truth, the Life Ch. 14:6
• I AM the True Vine Ch. 15:1, 5
(1) 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."
Nicodemus
A. Pharisee – religious law keepers
B. Ruler of the Jews – has authority John 3:10 “master of Israel”
C. Came representing the people
D. Recognized Jesus as a teacher who “came from God” how? Nobody can do these signs unless God is with him”
He is not accepting Him as Messiah but at least as a man who “came from God” and God is with Him. Now remember this is early on. Later on the Pharisees would reject Jesus and have Him crucified. But right now they are trying to figure things out.
Also notice that Jesus does not go on trying to prove Himself but peers into the heat of Nicodemus to see the root of the problem. This was not about the people he represented this was about him.
I believe that Jesus sees the heart of the matter.
As I read where people asked, “Why did God chose Paul?” When he always choses the weak yet he chose Paul, mainly because he saw the heart and zeal of Paul. Paul wanted to please and have more of God, he wanted to do whatever he could to promote God’s kingdom he just got wrapped up in the wrong religion or at least the wrong group, the Pharisees.
(3) Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again (from the first completely and fully, again a second time, from above from God), he cannot see the kingdom of God."
IOW – a person cannot “see” the kingdom of God (even if it is right before them) if they are not born again.
Mat 15:13 But He answered and said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. (14) "Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch."
We can become so blinded by our circumstances that we can’t see “the kingdom of God”. That which God is doing around us. So blinded by our religious spirit, our ways, our doctrines, etc.
(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?"
Obvious confusion on the part of Nicodemus. This was new language.
Eze 11: (18) "And they will go there, and they will take away all its detestable things and all its abominations from there. (19) "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, (20) "that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
(5) Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Water – cleansing
Old Testament ceremonial cleansing,
Spirit – changing
Isa 44:3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: 4 And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.
Eph 1:13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
Mt 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
1Jn 5:6-8 This is He who came by water and blood; Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. (7) For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. (8) And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Titus 3:5).
David “create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Ps 51;10
(6) "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
There has to be a spiritual change when it comes to Christ. If not then we will be led only by the flesh.
Gal 5:16-18 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. (17) For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. (18) But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
1Co 2:10-14
There is a difference between discernment of the spirit and the flesh, it is important that we recognize this.
(7) "Do not marvel that I said to you, ’You must be born again.’
"But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. 2:14).
Message 14 The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit--God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion.
A person is spiritually born again:
a. By water, even the Spirit
b. By the will of God (James 1:18).
c. By incorruptible seed, even by the Word of God (1 Pt 1:23).
d. By God from above (1 Peter 1:3). The word again (ana) in the phrase "born again" also means above.
e. By Christ, who gives both the power and right to be born again (John 1:12-13).
3. The new birth is a definite experience, a real experience. A person experiences the new birth:
a. By believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (1 John 5:1; cp. John 3:14-15).
b. By the gospel as it is shared by believers (1 Cor. 4:15; Philemon 10).
c. By the Word of God (1 Peter 1:23); or by the Word of Truth (James 1:18).
4. The new birth is a changed life, a totally new life. A person proves that he is born again:
a. By doing righteous acts (1 John 2:29; cp. Ephes. 2:10; Ephes. 4:24).
b. By not practicing sin (1 John 3:9; 1 John 5:18).
c. By loving other believers (1 John 4:7).
d. By overcoming the world (1 John 5:4).
e. By keeping himself (1 John 5:18).
f. By possessing the divine seed or nature (1 John 3:9; 1 Peter 1:23; 2 Peter 1:4; cp. Col. 1:27).
(8) "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
This is not a natural matter that you can put your hands on this is a spiritual matter. You are looking for something tangible. Something with reason. This is spiritual. As the wind.
(9) Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"
An earnest plea from Nicodemus.
(10) Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?
You are a leader, you have all this knowledge and learning yet you don’t understand. Just because you have knowledge doesn’t mean that you know what you are talking about.
Jesus is not trying to make fun of him or mock him but to show him that he should know these things. They found throughout the Old Testament and yet he didn’t see it.
(11) "Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. (12) "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
Who is we? Jesus and the disciples, Jesus and the Father
(13) "No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.
This is so important at this point. How do you know who God is and what God thinks, by asking the one who came down from heaven.
Php 2:5-8 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, (6) who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, (7) but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. (8) And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
(14) "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
As Jesus came down from heaven He must also be lifted up one day. This is an obvious reference to the cross. We use this verse to praise and talking about lifting God up but this is talking about the cross.
Moses and the serpent:
Num 21:4-9 Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. (5) And the people spoke against God and against Moses: "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread." (6) So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. (7) Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. (8) Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live." (9) So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
Jesus said that He must be lifted up just as the serpent was lifted up. What did He mean? There are several pictures here.
a. The people of Israel had great need, for they were dying from the poison of the fiery serpents. Men today are dying from the poison of the serpent, the deadly poison of sin.
b. The serpent is a symbol of the evil one, Satan (Genesis 3:1f; Rev. 12:9; Rev. 20:2). Jesus Christ destroyed the works of the devil by being lifted up (Hebrews 2:14-15); therefore the serpent hanging upon the pole symbolized the defeat of Satan. By looking upon the defeated evil (the serpent), Israel was healed. Today man is healed by looking upon the Son of Man who has been lifted up upon the cross.
c. The serpent was a cursed creature from the very beginning (Genesis 3:14-15). Jesus became a curse for man (Galatians 3:13).
Isa 53:5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
1Pe 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.
(15) "that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
(16) "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
This the crux of the gospel. It is the result of Jesus coming. It is given in the context of why he came.
(17) "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Jesus did not come to condemn people.
1. Christ was not sent to condemn or to judge the world. We, the world, deserve to be judged and condemned.
We are guilty both of breaking God’s law and of coming short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23).
We are convicted (Romans 3:9-18; cp. Romans 1:18-32).
However, Christ was not sent to condemn or judge us. Judgment and condemnation were not His purpose.
2. Christ was sent to save us. His purpose was to save us from perishing and to save us to eternal life. (See Deeper Study #1—1 Cor. 1:18.)
"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11).
(18) "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
The condemnation comes when a person does not believe in Christ. The conviction comes.
“believes in Him”
Mar 16:16 "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved...” Acts 16:30-31
(19) "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
(20) "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
When the light comes it is what condemns.
(21) "But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."
This is the connection between a belief in Christ and following through into a relationship. Evidenced by how we live.
Conclusion
Are you born again?
Do you want to see the kingdom of God today?
