Note: My main resource is from Max Lucado's book 3:16. Well worth the read.
Title: Born Again
Theme: The importance of being able to start over.
Text: John 3
Offering: Deuteronomy 16:17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you.
Opening Scripture:
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 and said to him, “Most assuredly, 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, “Most assuredly, 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.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Jo h n 3:1 – 3,16
THE MOST FAMOUS CONVERSATION IN THE BIBLE
He’s waiting for the shadows. Darkness will afford the cover he covets. So he waits for the safety of nightfall. He sits near the second-floor window of his house, sipping olive-leaf tea, watching the sunset, biding his time. Jerusalem enchants at this hour. The disappearing sunlight tints the stone streets, gilds the white houses, and highlights the blockish temple.
Nicodemus looks across the slate roofs at the massive square: gleaming and resplendent. He walked its courtyard this morning. He’ll do so again tomorrow. He’ll gather with religious leaders and do what religious leaders do: discuss God. Discuss reaching God, pleasing God, appeasing God.
God.
Pharisees converse about God. And Nicodemus sits among them. Debating. Pondering. Solving puzzles. Resolving dilemmas. Sandal-tying on the Sabbath. Feeding people who won’t work.
Divorcing your wife. Dishonoring parents.
If you want to know about religion then you go to the Pharisees. Each one of us has a little bit of Pharisee in us. We are always looking for a way to be religious to get to God. We are looking for the list of things that we must do to be a Christian or to go to heaven. We like the 10 commandments. We like the list then we can do something.
So you could imagine that Nicodemus was on a journey of investigation. Maybe for the Pharisees maybe even more for himself. What does God say? Nicodemus needs to know. It’s his job.
He’s a holy man and leads holy men. His name appears on the elite list of Torah scholars. He dedicated his life to the law and occupies one of the seventy-one seats of the Judean supreme court. He has credentials, clout, and questions.
You could imagine that on this day Nicodemus was a little distracted. As they were discussing God there was this Galilean who wandered the streets claiming to be God. The crowds were following to. Not only did he claim to be God but there were the miracles. The lame walking, the blinded receiving sight. Demons were being banished. He even says that sins are forgiven.
He witnessed Jesus purge Solomon’s Porch. He saw the fury. Braided whip, flying doves. “There will be no pocket padding in my house!” Jesus erupted. By the time the dust settled and coins landed, hustling clerics were running a background check on him. The man from Nazareth won no favor in the temple that day.
So Nicodemus comes at night. His colleagues can’t know of the meeting. They wouldn’t understand. But Nicodemus can’t wait until they do. As the shadows darken the city, he steps out, slips unseen through the cobbled, winding streets. He passes servants lighting lamps in the courtyards and takes a path that ends at the door of a simple house. Jesus and his followers are staying here, he’s been told. Nicodemus knocks.
The Beginning
(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."
IOW. At this point we are not exactly sure what to do with you but from what we can see with what you are doing it seems that you must come from God. Maybe a prophet or something. There is something different about this man. It is the testament of history of who Jesus is. You may not understand him. You may not be sure who he is but you must reconcile with the fact that this man changed history.
(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."
Jesus makes no mention of Nicodemus’s VIP status, good intentions, or academic credentials, not because they don’t exist, but because, in Jesus’s algorithm, they don’t matter. He simply issues this proclamation: “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (v. 3 NKJV). Everybody is equal, there is no Jew or Gentile, there is no male or female.
Romans 3:23 “ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” The great equalizer.
Jesus had to have known that this thought was on Nicodemus’ mind. Jesus meets Nicodemus need not because he was some great religious leader but because he was courious enough to ask.
Illustration: I told a young man this one day. He told me he was atheists. He didn’t believe in God. So I told him that at night when he lays in bed why don’t he ask God if He is there? You know, he did, and guess what God answered him. Maybe not in the way we always like but when we ask He answers.
Starting Over – Born Again
Not By Our Power But Gods Grace
(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 language he was not familiar with. Yet it was not new to scriptures. Ezekiel explains it this way.
Jeremiah 31:32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, [23] says the Lord.
Ezekiel 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.
Something had to be different. What was going on was not working. Trying to achieve on our own religious merits was not working. They were missing God.
Spirit or Flesh
(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
Isaiah 44:3 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring;
Matthew 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:
1 John 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.
Titus 3:5 "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".
Ephesians 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,
(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.
Galatians 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.
1 Corinthians 2:10-14
There is a difference between discernment of the spirit and the flesh, it is important that we recognize this.
David’s Perspective
Psalms 51:1-12 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. (2) Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. (3) For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. (4) Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight-- That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge. (5) Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. (6) Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. (7) Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (8) Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice. (9) Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. (10) Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. (11) Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. (12) Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
David saw that the only way he could be changed is to be “born again”. But this was not going to happen because he could do it. Because he could get rid of a habit or fix the problem. It was going to happen because of the Lord.
The Answer
(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.
Where it all starts: With God
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
So Loved the world
That he gave His only Son – It always start with God giving something.
1 John 5:11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
The world ? This world? Heartbreakers, hope-snatchers, and dream-dousers prowl this orb. Dictators rage. Abusers inflict. Reverends think they deserve the title. But God loves. And he loves the world so much he gave his:
Declarations? Rules? Dicta? Edicts?
No. The heart-stilling, mind-bending, deal-making-or-break-ing claim of John 3:16 is this: God gave his son . . . his only son. No abstract ideas but a flesh-wrapped divinity. Scripture equates Jesus with God. God, then, gave himself. Why? So that “whoever believes in him shall not perish.”
Our Part
“Whoever believes in Him”
Romans 10:9-10 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (10) For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Should not perish – this is the positive
And perish . . . a sobering word. We’d like to dilute, if not delete, the term. Not Jesus. He pounds Do Not Enter signs on every square inch of Satan’s gate and tells those hell-bent on entering to do so over his dead body. Even so, some souls insist.
In the end, some perish and some live. And what determines the difference? Not works or talents, pedigrees or possessions. Nicodemus had these in hoards. The difference is determined by our belief. “Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
(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.
"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11).
Conclusion
This is your chance today. God sent His son so that you can be “born again” – “start over again”. Are you ready? It is your choice.
