Biophysicist Petra Schwille has been working on creating a living cell from the bottom up for the past 10 years. He says he’s always been fascinated by the question, “What distinguishes life from non-living matter?” For more than twenty years, researchers have been trying to create artificial cells, piecing together biomolecules in just the right context to approximate different aspects of life.1
Find John 3, and thank you for joining us in a series entitled “Let’s Get Real: Answers to Life’s Biggest Questions.”
What modern science is attempting is the old story of Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein is a Swiss science student who seeks to create an artificial man from pieces of human corpses. He runs around stealing pieces of vital organs from mortuaries and even trapping animals for parts to put his artificial man together. Eventually, he brings the artificial 8-foot man to life. The monster seeks affection but he’s so creepy that everyone runs from him.
Jesus tells a religious teacher that you must be given spiritual life in order to have eternal life. No human effort can create a spiritual Frankenstein. Spiritual life is only created and given by God Himself.
Again find John 3, and thank you for joining us in a series entitled “Let’s Get Real: Answers to Life’s Biggest Questions.” For the second week in a row, we are examining one of the most famous conversations in history.
It’s the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus. Jesus’ message is just so rich that I left last week thinking we haven’t done Jesus justice. This is the longest recorded conversation Jesus had with a religious leader.
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? No 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).
This is the most complete, the most comprehensive treatment of what it means to be born again in the Bible.
Nicodemus is a religious insider who is like a Kennedy, a Bush, or a Roosevelt in Jerusalem. There is good evidence outside of the Bible that Nicodemus belonged to one of the 3 largest landowning families of the time. He is an elite in every way conceivable. He’s the Micky Mantle of the New York Yankees or the Frank Hamer of the famed Texas Rangers who took down Bonnie and Clyde. Nicodemus is the religious insider of religious insiders.
Jesus is still a newcomer at this point. The two gather for a nighttime conversation that still makes us talk all these years later.
1. Water and Wind
“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’” (John 3:5-6).
1.1 Nicodemus’ Confusion
Nicodemus is confused. Jesus says 3 times, “Unless you are born again, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.” He says in verses three, five, and seven. “Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God’” (John 3:3). “Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God’” (John 3:5). “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’” (John 3:7).
Again, Nicodemus is confused. Nicodemus says, “Can a man climb back into his mother’s womb? What’s going on here? I mean, once you’re born, you’re born! You can’t be born again.” Now, it may be that Nicodemus found Jesus’ teaching a little incomprehensible, but Nicodemus was no fool. After all, Jesus refers to him as Israel’s teacher, which is a technical term in verse 10. A man of his scholarly attainment would have automatically had to memorize all of what we call the Old Testament in Hebrew plus another body of oral tradition twice as long again. That means Nicodemus knew something about text, metaphor, and language.2
1.2 Amen, Amen
Before Jesus explains anything, Jesus gives us “the double Amen” in Hebrew or “Truly, truly” in our translations. It’s like when your parents said your full name as a kid. Amen means “truth” or “true,” so Jesus is telling us something super serious here. Jesus says, “This is double truth.”
1.3 What Did Jesus mean by Water?
Jesus explains what “born again means in verse 5: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5-6). The first time Jesus explains what it means to be born again is to say we must be born of water and the Spirit. But what does this mean?
1.3.1 Baptism?
When Jesus refers to water, some think He’s talking about baptism. Does Jesus mean baptism when He talks about water here in verse 5? If Jesus did mean baptism is essential to salvation, then it is curious that He doesn’t mention baptism in verse 8 when He talks about how the Holy Spirit is essential. If He did mean baptism is essential to salvation, then it is curious that He doesn’t mention baptism in verses 14-15 when He talks about faith in Himself as essential. And if He did mean baptism is essential to salvation, then it is curious that He doesn’t mention baptism in verses 16-17 when He talks about God the Father’s essential role in saving us. If baptism is essential to salvation, none of the rest of the conversation with Nicodemus mentions anything about baptism.3 Plus, how could Jesus get on to Nicodemus for not understanding Christian baptism when it wasn’t practiced yet?
1.3.2 Compare Verses 3 and 5
What does Jesus mean when He says, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God?” It’s helpful to compare verse 3 and verse 5 closely, even really closely. Go ahead and put your eyes on both, if you will, with me. Jesus says in verse 3: “Truly, truly, I say to you.” Verse 5: “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
Verse 3: “He cannot see the kingdom of God.” Verse 5: “He cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Only a small change there.
But the change we need to notice is in the next phrase. Verse 3: “Unless one is born again.” Verse 5: “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit.” In other words, “born of water and the Spirit” in verse 5 equals “born again” in verse 3.
1.3.3 Nicodemus Knows the OT
Jesus is doing what modern TV shows and movies call a “flashback.” Jesus is flashing back to the Old Testament.
Remember, Jesus is talking to an expert in the Hebrew Scriptures. Here is a man who has taught the Scriptures and knows them forward and backwards as well as in several languages. Nicodemus would have known that water meant cleansing and renewal. Nicodemus would have known what God said through Ezekiel: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you” (Ezekiel 36:25). When Jesus said, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God’” (John 3:5b), Jesus was talking about a time predicted by the prophets when God would make a new covenant with His people. Nicodemus would have flashed back to the Old Testament predictions about a New Covenant. A time when God Himself would write the law of God on the hearts of His people (Jeremiah 31:31–34).
These two are talking insider language. Nicodemus would have known this just as all your Ranger fans know what a 6 4 3 Double Play is, right? Nicodemus would have known this just as my wife taught me years ago fancy dining doesn’t have two plates to eat off of, one on top of the other. No, the bottom plate is a charger plate, and only hillbillies don’t know this, right? It’s like Elvis fans know what “See, See Rider” starts an Elvis concert.
Jesus does a flashback with Nicodemus here. He’s speaking inside language to an expert in the Bible. Nicodemus knew that God had predicted a time when God Himself would write the law of God on the hearts of His people (Jeremiah 31:31–34). This is two experts speaking to one another and I need you to try to keep up. Again, Jesus is flashing back to the Old Testament.
1.4 New People
He says God sprinkles His people clean with water and His Spirit. Jesus is saying, in effect, “What we need is new men and new women, not new institutions. We don’t need synagogues or churches. We don’t need better spiritual leaders or political leaders. What we need is new lives, not new laws. We need new creatures and not new creeds. We need new people, not more power.”4
Remember, people of Nicodemus’s tribe would have liked to rewind the clock. Instead of being under Roman ruler, Nicodemus longed for the day when a descendent of King David ruled Israel again. Jesus is saying, in effect, “You can raise David’s dynasty all over again and place of David’s sons on the throne, but if you still have the same kind of people, it will end up the same way that the David’s dynasty ended up the first time. We need new people, Nicodemus.”
1.5 Unless
Please take a moment and notice the word “unless” in verse 5. Unless there is air, there is no fire. Unless there is rain, there are no crops. Unless you are born again, you cannot be a Christian.
1.6 Flesh
Jesus adds a little more when He says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit’” (John 3:6). What did Jesus mean by this? “Just as a dog gives birth to a puppy, a pig gives birth to a pig, so one sinful human gives birth to another sinful human, Nicodemus.” “Like products like and kind produces kind. One human produces another human.” “You have never seen a porcupine give birth to a kangaroo. And you’ll never one sinful rebel produce someone who isn’t another sinful rebel.” You need a new birth from above where God makes you new. A physical birth starts your life physically on this earth but it’s only a spiritual birth that can start your life spiritually on this earth. He cleanses you and renews you, and that’s our only hope.
1. Water and Wind
2. The Wind Blows Where the Wind Blows
“Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 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” (John 3:7-8).
Jesus makes a second attempt at teaching us what it means to be born again. Just as soon as Jesus finishes talking about water, He begins to discuss another essential element: wind.
2.1 The Wind
The word “wind” is also a double meaning in verse 8. The word in Hebrew and Greek is flexible and can mean either wind, breath, or Spirit. From verses 4-8, Jesus used the metaphor of the wind for the Holy Spirit. I felt the hot wind on my face in the Jordanian desert. I have lived in the Panhandle of Texas, where the wind is always blowing. And whenever you pull up to our church’s second location, you immediately feel the wind. I am not sure why the wind blows out there more than it does it. But anyone and everyone can instantly feel the wind when they get out of their cars. In fact, the building was constructed to withstand the added pressures of the wind when it was constructed in 2019. Check me out the next time you’re out there.
Jesus says, in effect, “Nicodemus, you can’t see the wind, and you can’t explain its origins.” Jesus says, “The Holy Spirit is unseen, and His work is mysterious, just like the wind.” The wind cannot be controlled; the wind is its own power.
2.3 Regeneration
Students of Theology will know the word regeneration. If you hear the word regeneration, you should immediately think “make alive.” Regeneration is when God makes you spiritually and morally alive. How do we fully and finally escape the moral and spiritual corruption that we find ourselves? Regeneration is where God gives a person who is spiritually dead spiritual life. So they can see the truth with their eyes, hear the truth with their ears, and respond to the truth with their heart. Regeneration happens to you only once, and it’s instant.
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). Regeneration is when God, the Holy Spirit, gives spiritual life to spiritually dead people. Remember the silliness of Frankenstein and how gross he is? Unless God regenerates us, any human attempt to make us alive ends up being spiritual Frankenstein. Unless God regenerates us, any religious effort toward making us alive ends up being spiritual Frankenstein.
Now, we don’t understand how this happens or what exactly God does to us and in us to give us spiritual life. We can only see the results of regeneration: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). You’ll see the changes to a born-again person over time. Your values and life goals change. Just as you can feel the wind but not see it, you will feel the impact of the Spirit of God on and in your life.
2.4 Pelagius
Sometimes, we have to see the mistakes of others before we can truly understand something. Let’s take a seminary class together, shall we? There is a British monk named Pelagius who is condemned by the church as a heretic. I bring Pelagius up here because he can help you understand what Jesus is NOT saying. Pelagius lives in the later part of the 300s and early 400s. Pelagius has a famous debate with Augustine. It starts when Pelagius reads Augustine’s famous book, Confessions. Augustine prays for the enabling power of God’s grace to overcome addictions by loving the wrong things in this life. And Pelagius can only shake his head at Augustine. Here is how Pelagius thinks: Pelagius doesn’t think we have a flaw within our human nature. Why would God make demands of us to be holy if we are flawed? Here’s an example: if you were to ask Mr. Pelagius for help to stop smoking or pornography, he would simply say God has given everyone the ability to choose, so stop smoking. Stop viewing filthy images. He’s a little more complicated than this. But at the heart of Pelagius’ thought is self-determination. Pelagius thinks we have free will where humans have the power not to sin. Augustine pushes back and says, you need power from the outside to change. You need the grace of God. It is only through the healing power of God’s grace, a grace outside of us, that comes to us and heals us in our fallen state. Only when we experience this grace that we begin to love what is good.5 When we love what is good, we begin to have the power to break our addictions.
Isn’t it interesting that in AA, the first step is always to acknowledge God. Even the people doing group therapy, know you must recognize a higher power. To kick an addiction, even the people at AA know you cannot be a Pelagian.
Don’t be Pelagius. Jesus is saying we need far more than a simple pep talk to make ourselves better. We need the wind of God, the Spirit of God, to blow through our lives and change us.
2.5 For the Believer
Let me speak to the believers in the room for a moment. The Holy Spirit is Christ in the Christian. He didn’t place an angel inside of you. He placed God inside of you. He didn’t place a saint inside of you. You don’t have the spirit of your godly grandmother in you. You have the Spirit of God in you! You may be just as normal-looking as Clark Kent. But I have good news for you, believer – Superman lives inside you.
You have the Spirit of God in you! Greater is He who is in you than He who is in the world!
2.6 Dead On Arrival
Let’s pause for a moment: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5).
Every human being is born spiritually D.O.A. (Dead on Arrival). There is only one thing a dead person needs – not religion and not church. A dead person needs life. The Holy Spirit brings life to anyone who receives the Lord Jesus Christ.
2.7 Nicodemus’ Credentials.
Of all the people, Jesus could be telling this to, he tells it to Nicodemus, a Pharisee. History tells us that there were only 6,000 Pharisees at any given time. Plus, as a “a ruler of the Jews,” he was 1 of 70 members who were Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of Israel. The Pharisees weren’t just religious; they were religion on steroids. They went by the book, and they kept all the rules. They never missed temple services. They were the Eagle Scouts of religion. Here was a superstar of religion before Jesus. This is the last person you would have thought of who needed the born-again experience was the man in front of Jesus. You could understand if Jesus were talking to a felon, a prisoner, a child molester, the worst of the worst. Jesus is dropping the hammer, “You, Nicodemus, judge Nicodemus, chief justice Nicodemus, ruler Nicodemus, Pharisee Nicodemus, Dr. Righteous Nicodemus - you must be born again.”6
1. Water and Wind
2. The Wind Blows Where the Wind Blows
3. Trust Me
“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? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man” (John 3:11-13). Jesus was saying, “Nicodemus, you've got to take My word for it that you can be born again. If you believe Me you will be born again.” Jesus says to all of us, “Trust Me. I know what I’m talking about. I have been where you cannot go just yet.”
3.1 Accounting Mode
By the way, if God went into accounting mode and began to calculate your good deeds, how long would the tape be? How long would your personal tape be? And if he were to get a separate calculator out for the things you’ve done wrong, how long would that tape be?
3.2 Apple Reset
(Scott, hold up your iPhone).
For those of us who use Apple products, there are two ways to reset our phones. You can do what is called a “soft” reset, which will close your applications and clear your cache, but it won’t affect the data on your hard drive, but that may not do the trick. Then you can do a hard reset which is also known as a “factory reset,” because the iPhone is restored to the original manufacturer settings it had when it left the factory. It initializes the core hardware components and reboots the entire operating system. All of the settings, applications, and data are wiped clean. In other words, you really have a brand-new phone. You can try religion, righteousness, rules, and rituals, but that is just a soft reset that will not work. What you need is a hard reset, a new start, a new heart, and a new life.7
3.3 Birth Certificate
(Scott, hold up your birth certificate).
This is one of the most important documents in my life.7 It is my birth certificate. Every person born in America by law is given a birth certificate. When you are a baby, that may not seem like a big deal, but without that document, you cannot get a Social Security card, a driver's license, a marriage license, a passport, Medicaid, Medicare, or even enroll in kindergarten. Birth registration is the process by which a child's birth is recorded in the civil register by the government authority. It gives that child legal recognition to all the other legal rights that any citizen should have. It is estimated by UNCIF that 230 million children under the age of 5 do not have birth certificates worldwide. And they will literally live handicapped lives for the rest of their lives.9
3.4 Spiritual Birth Certificate
There is another birth certificate far more important than a physical one, and that is a spiritual birth certificate. Without a spiritual birth certificate, you cannot have a relationship with God. You cannot get into His kingdom. You cannot be a part of His family. You can never know Him as your Father, and He will never know you as His child. A spiritual birth certificate cannot be issued by a government, and it can only be issued by God. It isn't a legal document; it is the Lord's document. It is not for your body; it is for your soul. A physical birth certificate is necessary for this world; a spiritual birth certificate is necessary for the next world. A physical birth certificate is necessary for this life; a spiritual birth certificate is necessary for the life to come. Only God can give you that certificate.
EndNotes
1 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07289-x; accessed April 7, 2024.
2 D. A. Carson, “The Wind Blows,” in D. A. Carson Sermon Library (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2016).
3 D. A. Carson, The Gospel according to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 192.
4 D. A. Carson, “The Wind Blows,” in D. A. Carson Sermon Library (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2016).
5 Christopher A. Hall, Learning Theology with the Church Fathers (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2002), 139.
6 James Merritt, “Regeneration – Where It Begins,” https://www.sermonsearch.com/sermon-outlines/171038/regeneration-where-it-begins-1-of-4/; accessed April 14, 2024.
7 I am thankful to James Merritt for this illustration on Apple Phones’ Hard Reset vs Soft Rest. James Merritt, “Regeneration – Where It Begins,” https://www.sermonsearch.com/sermon-outlines/171038/regeneration-where-it-begins-1-of-4/; accessed April 14, 2024.
8 I am indebted to James Merritt for this illustration on birth certificates. James Merritt, “Do I Have a Spiritual Birth Certificate,” https://www.sermonsearch.com/sermon-outlines/126291/do-i-have-a-spiritual-birth-certificate-1-of-4/; accessed April 14, 2024.
9 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5562988/; accessed April 13, 2024.
