John 3 (NIV)
1 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.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
I’d like to begin this message by reading a series of poll results and other findings that lay the ground work for what I believe is God’s message for us today…
CBN- 6/5/2020 -New Survey Reveals Most Americans and Many Who Identify As Christians, No Longer Believe In Absolute Moral Truth by Deborah Bunting
What is truth? Where do we find it? Past generations have looked to a source outside themselves -- namely God and the Bible -- for determining morality and truth. But a new study from the Cultural Research Center (CRC) at Arizona Christian University shows that some 58% of Americans surveyed no longer believe that, and instead say it's up to the individual to decide what is true or moral…
Ok that’s not to surprising but this is the disturbing part…
CBN- 6/5/2020 -New Survey Reveals Most Americans and Many Who Identify As Christians, No Longer Believe In Absolute Moral Truth by Deborah Bunting
Only 43% of those surveyed who identify as born-again Christians still embrace absolute truth.
In other words – looking at it from the other side of the coin - 57% of those who claim to be born again – the majority of those who claim to be born again– do not believe that the bible is the source of infallible, irreversible, undeniable, divinely inspired truth!
Here is another poll that I found disturbing:
Born Again Christians Just As Likely to Divorce As Are Non-Christians – Barna Research Releases in Family & Kids Survey • September 8, 2004
A new study released by The Barna Group, of Ventura, California, shows that the likelihood of married adults getting divorced is identical among born again Christians and those who are not born again.
Even though Malachi 2 says…
Malachi 2:16 “For I hate divorce!” says the LORD, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,” says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.”-NLT
And Jesus said in…
Matthew 19: 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”-NIV
And in spite of the words of the Apostle Paul
1 Corinthians 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God -ESV
Here is another one from…
Christianity Today- Study Compares Christian and Non-Christian Lifestyles - February 2007 –
A new Barna Group survey measured the type of lifestyles Americans live….The moral behaviors of , born-again believers are not much different from non-born-again adults. One quarter of born-again believers are less likely to view sexually explicit movies and magazines, to use profanity in public and to buy a lottery ticket [that means 1 out of 4 who claim to be born again do not- and you say that is good right? But listen] compared to roughly one third of non-born-again Christians.
Point? There is a higher percentage of non -born again people – 1 out of 3 -30% Who are practicing a higher level or morality than born- again people – 1 out of 4 – 25%
The article went on to say…
Christianity Today- Study Compares Christian and Non-Christian Lifestyles - February 2007
“The respect, patience, self-control and kindness of born-again Christians should astound people, but the lifestyles and relationships of born-again believers are not much different than others."
One more news source…
Washington Post - Evangelicals talk marriage and hot sex - - Nov 10, 2011 -According to “UnChristian,” a 2008 book by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, 44 percent of born-again Christians ages 23 to 41 believe sex outside marriage is morally acceptable,
Praise the Lord that the majority don’t, but 44% of those claiming to be born again is a percentage that is far, to high!
Q: What is the point that I am trying to make?
Q: What is the problem that I am trying to point out?
Q: Sexual immorality?
Q: Divorce?
Q: Moral behavior?
No the problem I’m trying to point out here is – that the world and apparently the church does not understand the meaning of– or the concept of what it means to be - born again?
WHAT BROUGHT ME PERSONALLY TO THIS PLACE OF CONCERN THIS PAST WEEK WAS MY READING 1ST JOHN AND BEING REMINDED OF IT’S MEANING!
Listen: HOW DO YOU KNOW IF SOMEONE IS A BORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN, WHICH IS REALLY A REDUNDANT TERM IF YOU’RE A CHRISTIAN BIBLICALLY SPEAKING YOU ARE BORN AGAIN IF YOU ARE NOT BORN AGAIN YOU ARE NOT A CHRISTIAN…
Well as I was going through 1st John these statements literally arrested me….Listen….
1 John 2:29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.- KJV
Matthew Poole - Which alone would evidence their Divine birth, since God hath no children destitute of his image, or who resemble him not.
1 John 3:9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.-NIV
Bruce Hurst - Practitioners of sin are not of God! They are not regenerated and indwelt by the Holy Spirit as indicated by their unholy lives!
Ligon Duncan - "You do what you are."
He is not referring to sinless perfection for 1 John chapter 1 had already addressed that,
1 John 1:8 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.- KJV
Ligon Duncan - But John is talking about the bent, the habit, the characteristic of a life, and he’s saying that our lives reveal who we are.
Matthew 12:33 Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. - NIV
1 John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.-NIV
John is not speaking of natural human "love" but of divine love, a self-less love, a love that seeks the best for the recipient, agape love!
1 John 5:4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.- NIV
I’m seeing to many “Christians” overcome by the world, not overcoming the world!
And finally here is the “grand-daddy” of them all:
1 John 5:18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.-NIV
The idea is that the evil one cannot arrest us again and drag us back into the old lifestyle, make us captives of sin again.
Well, when I read that, and compared that to the lifestyles, the attitudes, the level of victory at which people who claim to be Christians are living at, I felt a need to bring I message that I simply entitled with two words that, if we were in the sanctuary, you would see them projected on the screen with a question mark following them. And the two words I’ve enitled this message after with a question mark proceeding them, I will read in like manner. The title of my message to you this morning is simply this, and again I read it in the form of a question:
Born Again?
Q: Born Again? What does that mean?
Q: Born Again? Who is it for?
Q: Born Again? When does it happen?
Q: Born Again? How does it happen?
Q: Born Again? Why must it happen?
Well my goal this morning is to simply walk us through this concept of being born again using the scripture text that is before us to answer all these questions, bringing clarity to this critically important concept of being – BORN AGAIN!
Let me begin by framing up for us the passage that is before us by TURNING BACK FOR A MOMENT TO THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER – THAT GIVES US A GLIMPSE FOR…
I. The CAUSE [ the reason] for this subject:
And I’m going to back up a little in the book of John to help make this point. In the prior chapter of John the following incident took place…
John 2:23 Now when he [Jesus] was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. -KJV
A) People [many].
1. Believers?
a) Good, right?
John 2:24a But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, 25a And needed not that any should testify of man -KJB
B) Perspective?
1. There is such a thing as a - UNSAVED BELIEVER!
James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! -NKJV
John MacArthur - Though they believed in Jesus, Jesus did not believe in them; He had no faith in their faith.
Q: Why?
C) Point?
John 2:25b for he knew what was in man- KJV
Matthew Henry – Our Lord knew all men, their nature, dispositions, affections, designs.
1. Better said:
1Kings 8:39b Forgive and act; deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know every human heart), _NIV
Revelation 2:23b I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.-NIV
Luke 5:22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?-NIV
a) He knew their hearts!
2. There is such a thing as “Head Faith,” and not “Heart Faith.”
3. Simply put:
a) They believe in their head, but not in their heart!
b) They BELIEVED but were not BORN AGAIN!
II. The CONTINUANCE of this subject:
It’s like John now goes from a broad, sweeping view of mankind in general and focuses in on one specific…
A) Person?
John 3:1a Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus…(NIV)
1. Nicodemas = name means = "conqueror" , “superior!”
B) Profession?
1. Pharisee - Heb. to separate (SEPERATIST)
a) A sect that seems to have started after the Jewish exile.
b) They were the leading theologians of Judaism of their day.
King James Dictionary – A sect among the Jews, whose religion consisted in a strict observance of rites and ceremonies and of the traditions of the elders, and whose pretended holiness led them to separate themselves as a sect, considering themselves as more righteous than other Jews.
Mitchell G. Bard - The Pharisees because they were the spiritual fathers of modern Judaism. Their main distinguishing characteristic was a belief in an Oral Law that God gave to Moses at Sinai along with the Torah. The Pharisees believed that God also gave Moses the knowledge of what these laws meant and how they should be applied.
Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words – The Pharisees In their zeal for the Law they almost deified it and their attitude became merely external, formal, and mechanical. They laid stress, not upon the righteousness of an action, but upon its formal correctness.
C) Pietism?
Strong’s Lexicon- They sought for distinction and praise by outward observance of external rites and by outward forms of piety, and such as ceremonial washings, fastings, prayers, and alms giving; and, comparatively negligent of genuine piety, they prided themselves on their fancied good works.
Strong’s Lexicon- They held strenuously to a belief in the existence of good and evil angels, and to the expectation of a Messiah; and they cherished the hope that the dead, after a preliminary experience either of reward or of penalty in Hades…
S. Lewis Johnson -The Pharisees were right in many points of doctrine. They believed in divine predestination. They believed in man’s moral responsibility. They believed in man’s immortality. They believed in the resurrection of the body, contrary to the Sadducees. They believed in the existence of angels and spirits.
Mitchell G. Bard- They also believed in a messiah who would herald an era of world peace.
Josephus - The Pharisees maintained a simple lifestyle, were affectionate and harmonious in their dealings with others , especially respectful to their elders, and quite influential throughout the land of Israel ;at the time of Herod they numbered about six thousand.
Strong’s Lexicon - They stoutly upheld the theocracy and their country's cause, and possessed great influence with the common people.
Strong’s Lexicon – [YET] They were bitter enemies of Jesus and his cause…
D) Problem?
Matthew 23: 27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.-NIV
E) POINT?
1. Condition of the human – HEART!
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick! Who can know it [perceive, understand, be acquainted with his own heart and mind]? 10 I the Lord search the mind, I try the heart, even to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doing- AMPC
2. Commentary of the human heart:
a) Noah’s day:
Genesis 6:5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. -NIV
b) Jesus day:
Mark 7:18 “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? -NIV
Mark 7:20 He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” -NIV
c) Our day!
2 Timothy 3:1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.-NIV
F) Position?
John 3;1B who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.
1. Sanhedrin – (He sat on the Supreme Court of Israel)
Easton Illustrated Bible Dictionary - Sanhedrin (Gr. synedrion), meaning "a sitting together," or a "council." This word (rendered "council," A.V.) is frequently used in the New Testament to denote the supreme judicial and administrative council of the Jews, which, it is said, was first instituted by Moses, and was composed of seventy men (Numbers 11:16,17 ).
Easton Illustrated Bible Dictionary- The Sanhedrin is said to have consisted of seventy-one members, the high priest being president. As the highest court of judicature, "in all causes and over all persons, ecclesiastical and civil, and supreme," its decrees were binding, not only on the Jews in Palestine, but on all Jews wherever scattered abroad….Its jurisdiction however was greatly curtailed by Herod, and afterwards by the Romans.
G) Perspective?
1. Nicodemas was a pious man
2. Nicodemas was a prestigious man
3. Nicodemas was a powerful man
4. Nicodemas was a pursuing man
Q: What? Something that Judaism could not offer him:
Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,-NIV
G) Proof!
John 3:2 He came to Jesus at night
a) Night?
i. Cowardice?
People's New Testament - He probably chose the night in order to escape observation. He did not dare encounter the hostility of the priests, filled with rage over the cleansing of the temple. (John 2:13-17).
ii. Couldn’t sleep?
Adrian Rodgers –“Instead of counting sheep, he just decided to talk to the Shepherd!”
iii. Causes?
Q: Why at night?
a. It may have been due to his searching his heart!
b. Perhaps the phenomenon that went on in David’s life that is recorded in Psalm 63 was taking place in Nicodemas’ life…
Psalm 63: 1 You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.-NIV
Psalm 63:6 On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.-NIV
Psalm 4:4 Tremble and do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.- NIV
c. Perhaps he prayed:
Psalm 139:23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.- NIV
III. The CONVERSATION about the subject:
A) Politeness:
John 3:2a He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, (Teacher}
1. He used a highly respectable term, for a wise and learned man to call an uneducated carpenter from Galilee – a Teacher!
John 7:15 The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?” -NIV
B) Proof?
John 3:2b we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.
1. We?
a) He is the only Pharisee the bible records (thought there were 6,000 in Jesus day) that eventually came to faith in Christ!
C) Point?
John 3:2b we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.
John 3:2c For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Bruce Hurst- While Nicodemus words sound as if they are moving in the right direction of seeing in Jesus a genuine divine activity and an admission that Jesus is from God and does the works of God, these things are not enough and Jesus does not commend him for his positive beliefs.
John Piper - "Seeing signs and wonders, and being amazed at them, and giving the miracle worker credit for them that he is from God, saves nobody!
1. Christ’s response!
a) He answered a question that was not asked!
BF Wescott- The Lord answered not his words but his thoughts
2. He spoke to the longing of his heart.
John 3:3a Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you,
John 3:3a (KJV) Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
a) Verily, verily - In the Greek, "Amen, amen." The word "amen" means "truly, certainly, so be it"
3. Jesus begins this statement by saying TRULY, CERTAINLY, WITHOUT DEBATE, DOUBT OR DISCREPENCY, NICODEMAS I SAY UNTO THEE..
John 3:3b no one can [even] see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
a) LET ALONE – ENTER IN!!
IV. The CRISIS caused by this subject!
A) Crisis?
D A Carson -" The predominant religious thought in Jesus’ day was that all Jews would be admitted to that kingdom apart from those guilty of deliberate apostasy or extraordinary wickedness.” (e.g. Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1)
1. This statement was a “Mind Blower!”
a) Jews believed they were inheritors of the kingdom primarily if they were born Jews, and were good Jews!
b) They believed essentially that the kingdom was a Jewish birthright!
2. But Jesus is essentially saying to Nicodemas, “In order to understand my miracles you’ve got to become a miracle!”
John 3:3b no one can [even] see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
Colin Smith- “Imagine that you spend your whole life building a house. The house is a life project for you. You build it from the foundation up—every nail, every screw. You go for quality in everything you choose: Fixtures, fittings, draperies. Everything that is in that house is a reflection of you and your commitment to excellence.”
Colin Smith- “The house is your joy. It reflects your craftsmanship, your style, and your values. It is the fruit of your labor over years, as you have continued to make improvements, incorporating new ideas.”
Colin Smith- “One day you meet a master builder. You have read about his work in magazines, so you invite him to come over and look at your house. You want to know if there is anything that he would do different, change some fittings, move the deck, perhaps even open up a wall. What could he suggest that would make your house even better?”
Colin Smith- He comes in and he’s very quiet. He looks round, shakes his head and says, “This is a tear-down.” That’s devastating; a tear-down? I have put my life into this house!
3. Your building on the wrong foundation! – WORKS!!!
4. YOUR TRUSTING IN YOUR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS!!!
John MacArthur-Your religion is meaningless. You might as well be an atheist, you might as well worship a rock, you are so alienated from God. All your works are dead works.
Isaiah 64:6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.- NIV
John MacArthur-They give no life. You have no spiritual life. You have no relationship to God. In order to have that relationship you have to be born from above. Something has to happen to you that is a work of heaven.
V. The CONFUSION regarding this subject?
A) Confusion?
John 3:4 “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!”
Chuck Swindoll- Don’t forget; this is no imbecile sitting across from Jesus. This is a brilliant theologian, skilled in the art of debate, addressing what he undoubtedly saw as a young upstart. His question said, in effect, “What a ludicrous proposition!”
VI. The CONCEPT regarding this subject:
John 3:3 Jesus replied to Nicodemus, "I can guarantee this truth: No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."-GWT
John 3:3 Jesus answered him, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless a person is born again [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified], he cannot [ever] see and experience the kingdom of God.”-AMP
B) Concept?
1. Just as you had a earthly physical birth, you must now have a heavenly spiritual birth!
2. Regeneration - pa????e?es?a- paliggenesia
a) Reproduction, renewal, recreation, renovation!
b) This word literally means a "new birth."
c) Regeneration, the production of a new life consecrated to God!
Thomas Adams - Repentance is a change of the mind and regeneration is a change of the man.
Augustus H. Strong -Regeneration is a restoration of the original tendencies towards God which were lost by the Fall.
Augustus H. Strong -Regeneration is essentially a changing of the fundamental taste of the soul. By taste we mean the direction of man's love, the bent of his affections, the trend of his will.
A. W. Pink -Regeneration is the transforming not only of an unlovely object, but of one that resists with all its might the gracious designs of the heavenly Potter. A. W. Pink
Sinclair Ferguson -Regeneration, however it is described, is a divine activity in us, in which we are not the actors but the recipients.
VII. The COMPONENTS of this subject?
John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
A) Components?
1. Water?
2. Spirit?
VIII. Some CLARITY concerning this subject?
A) Clarity?
1. Water?
a) Water baptism?
Preacher’s joke –“The went into the baptistry a dry sinner, and and out a wet one.”
Preacher’s joke – “ A pastor said to another pastor, ”I have these mice in my church building and I can’t get them out.” The second pastor said, “I’ll tell you how to get them out of your building, have them walk the aisle, pray a sinners prayer, baptized then in water, and I guarantee that you will never see those mice again.”
B) Concept?
Matthew 23 (NIV)
25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
1. YOU CAN’T CURE A MAN OF WITH A TERMINAL SICKNESS BY GIVING HIM A BATH, YOU’VE GOT TO GET INSIDE OF THE MAN IN ORDER TO CURE HIS ILLS!
C) Confusion?
1. MEN DON’T BASICALLY KNOW HOW SICK THEY ARE ON THE INSIDE!
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? -ESV
Genesis 6:5 The LORD saw that the wickedness (depravity) of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination or intent of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually.-AMP
D) COMPONENTS?
1. Water?
a) THE WORD OF CHRIST!
Romans 10:17 So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself) -AMPC
Isaiah 55: 10 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it produce and sprout,
And providing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
11 So will My word be which goes out of My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the purpose for which I sent it. -NASB
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,-NASB
John 15:3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.-NIV
1 Peter 1:23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. -NIV
2. Spirit
a) Symbolized as water
John 7:37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.-NIV
Isaiah 44 (NIV)
3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.
VIII. The CONSISTENCY regarding this subject:
John 3:7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
John 3: 9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
John 3:10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?
A) Consistency?
1. Both in Old and New Testament scripture?
Ezekiel 36:25a I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean- NIV
a) Figurative language for our -FORGIVENESS
i. Justification
a. Justification is a legal term signifying our acquittal, but not only that a term that declares a person to be just or righteous. Ie. Forgiven!
Hebrews 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.-NASB
Ezekiel 36:25b I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.- NIV
b. I will cleanse you from all internal as well as external idolatry.
ii. Sanctification - ???asµ??- hagiasmos
a. Consecration, purification
Easton Bible Dictionary – Sanctification involves more than a mere moral reformation of character, it is brought about by the power of the truth: it is the work of the Holy Spirit bringing the whole nature more and more under the influences of the new gracious principles implanted in the soul in regeneration.
B) Components?
1. What is regeneration?
Ezekiel 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.-NIV
a) God performing a heart transplant!
i. God placing in us a heart the reflects His Heart!
b) God placing His Very Presence within our spirit!
i. His Holy Spirit within the deepest part of our being!
C) Consistent! (OT scripture)
Ezekiel 11:19 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.-NIV
Jeremiah 31: 33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.- NIV
IX. The COMPLICATION regarding this subject
John 3:11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?
A) Complicates?
1. You don’t believe!!
a) YOU ARE NOT A BELIEVER ACCORDING TO MY DEFINITION NICODEMAS!
John 3:13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”- NIV
VIII. The CONCEPTION of this great this subject!!
A) Conception?
1. The act of conceiving; the state of being conceived.
2. Fertilization; The inception of a pregnancy.
B) Curiosity?
1. How does one become born again?
C) Concept?
John 3:8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
1. You can’t command the wind!
2. The wind does whatever it wishes!
XII. The CULTIVATION of this subject?
A) Cultivate?
1. Being born again?
B) Confusion?
John 1:11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. -NIV
1. Monergism?
2. Synergism?
a) Monergism, which comes from a compound Greek word that means “to work alone,” is the view that God alone effects our salvation.
b) Synergism, which also comes from a compound Greek word meaning “to work together,” is the view that God works together with us in effecting salvation.
c) Monergism is closely associated with John Calvin
d) Synergism is associated with Jacob Arminius
i. They are not necessarily the creators of these views, but are the best-known proponents of these views = Calvinism and Arminianism.
3. Hyper-Calvinism denies the necessity of human action, and Arminianism denies the true nature of the Divine action.
C) Clarity:
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
D) Concept?
1. Women are born with millions of immature eggs, which are contained in multicellular structures called follicles
a) Roughly once a month, the hypothalamus sends a signal to the pituitary gland to release follicle-stimulating hormone. This hormone prompts several follicles -- small, fluid-filled cysts -- to develop into mature eggs.
b) One of these mature eggs needs to find its partner: a sperm cell for conception to take place.
Adrian Rodgers- You cannot have a birth without a conception. Now when you were born physically, you had two parents. You had a mother and a father. The mother supplied the egg. The father supplied the sperm. And when the egg and the sperm came together in your mother’s womb, there was a conception and you began to be. Now, it takes two parents for birth. What are the two parents in the spiritual birth? The two parents in the spiritual birth are the Word of God and the Spirit of God.
Adrian Rodgers- There is the Word, and there is the Spirit, but where is the womb? Where is the womb? The womb is the womb of faith. You supply the womb.
2. My Take – The womb is a believing, trusting, broken, repentive, and contrite heart!
Paul Coxall- What is repentance? A basic biblical definition is: “Repentance is a change of heart that leads to a change in the direction of life”
Paul Coxall- One of the clearest summaries of what repentance looks like can be found in the book of Joel:
“"Now, therefore," says the Lord, "Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning." So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm” (Joel 2:12-13).
Paul Coxall- Notice that God does not call disobedient people to tear their garments (external behaviour) but to tear their heart (sorrow for sin with an accompanying desire to change).
Matt Erbaugh (Desiring God Ministries) -The heart of true repentance is not simply turning from sin and toward God, but coming back to God with a broken spirit and a contrite heart.
XII. My CONCLUSION to this subject:
John 3:14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”:
Numbers 21:4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
Numbers 21:6 Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
A) Point?
1. Nicodemas was looking to himself!
a) A Pharisaical trait?
Luke 18: 9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”-NIV
b) House illustration?
Colin Smith - He comes in and he’s very quiet. He looks round, shakes his head and says, “This is a tear-down.” That’s devastating; a tear-down? I have put my life into this house! Jesus offers a new life, not a better one! That is what’s happening here for this highly successful man who is trusted and respected in the community. Jesus says to him, “You have come to me, thinking that I can add something that is missing in your successful life. I am telling you that your whole life needs to be made again, begun again, lived again. You must be born again.”
Colin Smith - He says, “Your whole life needs to be remade and relived. You must be born again. And unless that happens, you cannot see the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus, you came to me thinking you are somewhere close to God’s Kingdom. I’m telling you that you’re nowhere near!”
B) Perspective?
1. LOOK!!!
a) The day was January 6, 1850.
b) The man?
i. Charles Haddon Spurgeon who was not quite sixteen years old at the time of what he calls his conversion.
C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography: The Early Years- I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair until now had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm, one Sunday morning, while I was going to a certain place of worship. When I could go no further, I turned down a side street, and came to a little primitive Methodist chapel. In that chapel there may have been a dozen or fifteen people… The minister did not come that morning; he was snowed up, I suppose. At last, a very thin-looking man, a shoemaker, or tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach… He was obliged to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had little else to say. The text was “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth” (Isa. 45:22).
C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography: The Early Years- He did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter. There was, I thought, a glimpse of hope for me in that text. The preacher began thus: “My dear friends, this is a very simple text indeed. It says, ‘Look.’ Now lookin’ don’t take a great deal of pain. It ain’t liftin’ your foot or your finger; it is just, ‘Look.’ Well, a man needn’t go to college to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man needn’t be worth a thousand a year to be able to look. Anyone can look; even a child can look.”
C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography: The Early Years- “But then the text says, ‘Look unto Me…’ Many of ye are lookin’ to yourselves, but it’s no use lookin’ there. Ye will never find any comfort in yourselves. Some look to God the Father. No, look to him by-and-by. Jesus Christ says, ‘Look unto Me.’ Some of ye say ‘We must wait for the Spirit’s workin’. You have no business with that just now. Look to Christ. The text says, ‘Look unto me.’”
C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography: The Early Years- Then the good man followed up his text in this way: “Look unto Me; I am sweatin’ and great drops of blood. Look unto Me; I am hangin’ on the cross. Look unto Me; I am dead and buried. Look unto Me; I rise again. Look unto Me; I ascend to heaven. Look unto Me; I am sittin’ at the Father’s right hand. O poor sinner, look unto Me! Look unto Me!”
C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography: The Early Years- When he had gone to about that length, and managed to spin out ten minutes or so he was at the end of his tether. Then he looked at me under the gallery, and I dare say, with so few present he knew me to be a stranger. Just fixing his eyes on me, as if he knew all my heart he said, “Young man, you look very miserable.” Well, I did, but I had not been accustomed to have remarks made from the pulpit on my personal appearance before. However, it was a good blow, struck right home. He continued “and you always will be miserable—miserable in life, and miserable in death—if you don’t obey my text; but if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved.”
C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography: The Early Years- Then lifting up his hands, he shouted, as only a primitive
Methodist could do “Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look! Look! Look! You have nothing to do but to look and live.” I saw at once the way of salvation. I know not what else he said—I did not take much notice of it—I was so possessed with that one thought. Like as when the brazen serpent was lifted up, the people only looked and were healed, so it was with me. I had been waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard that word, “Look!” What a charming word it seemed to me! Oh! I looked until I could have almost looked my eyes away.
C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography: The Early Years- There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun; and I could have risen that instant, and sung with the most enthusiastic of them, of the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which looks alone to him… Now I can say—
E’er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And Shall be till I die.[1]
I urge you today: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Look to Him and live.
Pray:
1. Born Again?
2. Salvation by works, heritage, denominational affiliation?
3. LOOK TO JESUS CHRIST AND BE SAVED!
1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief!
