The Kingdom of God
“A New Birth Required”
John 3:1-16
Watch on YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVh1LIeFoNY
I’m sure you've all noticed that if you want to get into a fancy restaurant, you must make reservations, and you end up paying a fortune for something that looks more like an appetizer than a main course. Or, if you want to get into a sporting event, you must buy a ticket, and the closer you get to the action, the more that ticket is going to cost. We also like to look our best just to get others to like us, therefore, clothes and personal hygiene items, along with gym memberships it all ends up costing us quite a bit money, but why is it we never end up looking like those ads.
Let me just say how grateful I am that God’s Kingdom has a whole different set of values than this worldly kingdom.
But I think we can say, without controversy, that the greatest need of humanity is to get into the Kingdom of God; and to get back under the rule and reign of God, which humanity left back at the Garden of Eden with the sin of Adam and Eve.
It is with this understanding of life’s greatest need that finds people drawn to one of the best-known stories of the New Testament and the gospel accounts. It is Jesus’s encounter with the Pharisee named Nicodemus. Nicodemus is a teacher of Jewish law and religion, and he comes to meet with Jesus in the middle of the night to seek an interview.
In rabbinical thinking, Jesus was not an official teacher of the law, yet he was teaching and preaching about the Kingdom of God, working miracles wherever he went, and the average Jew, along with religious leaders, gathered to witness this phenomenon.
Read John 3:1-16
And so on that evening Nicodemus came seeking humanity’s most basic and fundamental need. And Jesus’s stated more clearly than any other time about a persons entrance into the kingdom of God.
Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3 NKJV)
What I find interesting about Jesus’s response is that He never allowed Nicodemus to finish his thought or ask what was near and dear to his heart. Nicodemus only got as far as stating what he thought about Jesus and His ministry, and how Jesus was not only a teacher of the law, but how God was with Him as well.
Jesus then interrupts Nicodemus and answers his question even before he asked it. Notice it says Jesus answered. Answered what? Nicodemus never asked.
Jesus interrupts because He’s teaching Nicodemus, and all of us, one of the most profound truths about the Kingdom of God, and that is how someone enters it. And the reason Jesus interrupted is that He didn’t have to hear the question; He already knew what was on Nicodemus’s heart.
There’s a perfect illustration of this found earlier in John's gospel.
“But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.” (John 2:24-25 NKJV)
And it’s no different with us in our encounters with Jesus. When we come near to Jesus through reading His word and prayer, we need to come with our hearts wide open to meet with Him and ask Him to search and know our hearts, and then lead us in the good and right way that leads to everlasting life.
King David spells this out to us in Psalm 139.
He said, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24 NKJV)
If this is our prayer, then Jesus will meet with us, search our hearts, and tell us all about ourselves, even those things don’t even know, and even those things we’re afraid to ask.
And what I have found is that Jesus will interrupt our well thought out speeches, thoughts, ideas, and rationalizations. He will read us like an open book because we can’t conceal anything from Him. He tears away our camouflage and makeup and shows us as we really are.
And this is what we need. We need our hearts interrupted, along with all its evil intents.
And so, in John’s Gospel, chapter 3, Jesus gives us what is required for entrance into the Kingdom of God. And from John 3:3 there are three basic propositions that I’d like for us to consider.
We Must Be Born Again
We can’t substitute anything for it. In the King James Version, Jesus said, “Verily, verily.” What this means is that this is something we dare not and should not miss. It’s that important.
The phrase, “born again,” translates several ways. Some say it means to be “born from above,” while others say, “born anew.” Both are correct as they apply to the Greek word.
But if Jesus spoke this in Aramaic, which is probable, because it was the language the Jews spoke during this time, this passage would read, “Except a man has another birth, he will never see the Kingdom of God.”
This goes a long way in explaining Nicodemus’s reply.
“How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” (John 3:4 NKJV)
Yet either the Greek or Aramaic is acceptable because we cannot enter the Kingdom of God in our present condition. And that is important to understand. As we presently are, we cannot get in, therefore, a new birth is required, and Jesus clarifies that this is a spiritual birth.
Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5 NKJV)
What does this mean? Many see this as the natural birth, “water,” and a spiritual birth, “spirit,” as Jesus pointed out in his next sentence.
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:6 NKJV)
So, first there needs to be a natural birth before there can be a spiritual birth.
But if you would, let me present another possibility from what John the Baptist said.
“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11 NKJV)
The water represents baptism, but not the act of baptism, but what baptism signified back then, and that is repentance. And the spiritual birth would then represent a spiritual baptism, or an inner renewal and regeneration.
If I could be so bold, but also reverential, I would paraphrase what Jesus said this way:
“Except you are born of all that water baptism signifies, which is repentance, and that which Spirit baptism accomplishes, which is regeneration, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God.”
Unless there is repentance and a work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of a person, no one can be born again and enter the Kingdom of God.
Christianity isn’t just an addition to something we’ve already got. It doesn’t mean a slight improvement on what we were before. It isn’t some new idea or theory that supplements what we already know. Christianity is something radically different, and we cannot enter it through conventional means.
And so, Jesus tells us we must be “Born Again.” Jesus says we have nothing to offer in this process, nothing to build God’s Kingdom upon. What’s needed is a brand-new foundation, or a spiritual birth.
What we need is a brand-new start. We must do away the with the old before we can build the new.
Living in Las Vegas for over 50 years, I’ve seen this quite often as they demolished an old hotel before they could build a new one where the old one stood. Like the old Desert Inn hotel. It had to come down before they could build the Winn hotel.
We need to offer to God ourselves, but the old life, a life lived prior to conversion isn’t of any value and must be done away with. God must demolish it so that He can build a brand new life, a life born in Christ. Becoming a Christian and entering the Kingdom of God isn’t about adding a fresh coat of paint. We have nothing good to add to God’s kingdom, so we need a brand-new start. We need to be born again.
The born-again experience is a life-changing experience, which is so radical that it is described as a person becoming a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
That’s why we can confidently share the gospel with others. It’s because the gospel works! The good news of being born again is then accompanied by the presence of the life-changing Christ within us.
The Apostle Paul said, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV)
Further, we must not miss the fact that Jesus is speaking this to a Pharisee, not a publican or prostitute. He’s not speaking to those that the religious folk considered to be the worst of the worst. Instead, He’s saying it to a very religious person. Therefore, nobody, whether good or bad, can enter the Kingdom of God without a new birth.
Now there is something positive about this nightly visit. While some say that he came because he didn’t want his fellow Pharisees to know, I kind of think that he had some questions and needed some quality time alone with Jesus to get them answered.
But whichever way people want to see this, what this is saying is that he had been listening and recognized Jesus was speaking with authority, the type of authority that comes from God. So, Nicodemus needed some quality time alone with Jesus.
The second proposition answers the question of why we must be born again.
Something’s Wrong with Life
We need a new life because something is wrong with the old life, or the life we are born into.
There’s a misunderstanding that if we just stop doing worldly or bad stuff, and start doing good or Christian stuff, then we’ll be Christians. Kind of like cleaning up our act! And while morality and ethical behavior are good, this isn’t what Jesus is saying.
What’s wrong with our old life is that it’s incapable of spiritual thinking. Nicodemus, a well-taught and expert in the Jewish religion and law, didn’t get it. He didn’t have spiritual insight. When Jesus said humanity needed a new birth to enter the Kingdom of God, Nicodemus responded, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” (John 3:4 NKJV)
After Jesus said that a person must be born of both water and of the spirit, He said, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 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.” (John 3:7-8 NKJV)
Of humanity’s lack of spiritual perception, Paul said, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14 NKJV)
The natural man, one who has yet to be born again, doesn't understand God’s word. To them, it’s foolishness, and it doesn’t matter how smart they are.
In fact, the Apostle Paul said that God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the weak things of this world to confound the the strong (1 Corinthians 1:27)
So when the Mormons respond to the Trinity and Jesus praying to the Father, saying, “Who is Jesus praying to? Himself!” What they are asking is a Nicodemus question or response, that is, a question or response that lacks spiritual perception.
Nicodemus shows his lack of spiritual perception, asking, “How can these things be?”
Nicodemus is spiritually out to lunch. He couldn’t understand, and so Jesus calls Him out on it.
“Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? … If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:10, 12 NKJV)
Nicodemus couldn’t think in the spiritual realm because he was still living and thinking in the physical realm. He was thinking religiously, not spiritually. Nicodemus’s understanding of what Jesus was saying would be like a blind person trying to be an art critic.
Paul said, “For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never obeyed God’s laws, and it never will.” (Romans 8:7 NLT)
The natural mind and sinful nature will always be hostile towards God. Our very nature opposes the truth of God, that’s why we need to be born again.
Jesus said, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24 NKJV)
When we accept Jesus, He places within us the Holy Spirit. And it’s the Holy Spirit within us that translates God’s heavenly language into our hearts, because as the third person of the Godhead, He knows the will of God for our lives.
Romans 9:27 says, “And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.” (Romans 8:27 NLT)
Now we get to the last proposition.
It’s God’s Kingdom
This isn’t our kingdom we’re talking about. It isn’t about philosophy, science, or religion. Nor is it a realm of views, ideas, or morality. It also isn’t an external kingdom. Instead, it is our entrance into the spiritual realm, the realm of God, and it is our fellowship with Almighty God.
It’s a realm of God’s light and glory. Therefore, before we can enter, we must have something within us that corresponds to it. We need to be born again and have the light of life, the light of Jesus Christ, living within us to help guide us along the way.
To Nicodemus, Jesus said, “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:12 NKJV)
Jesus then explains what this heavenly thing is.
“No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.” (John 3:13 NKJV)
The heavenly thing, that which is spiritually discerned, and that by which we can only enter God’s kingdom through, is Jesus Christ, the Son of Man who came down from heaven.
Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must believe in the Son of Man, and, for that to take place he must be born again, which begins at the cross, when Jesus became the Lamb of God, and sacrificed His life so that we can have eternal life. And then He rose from the grave three days later to show us that death no longer has a grip on any who believe.
And that is exactly what Jesus tells Nicodemus when He said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:14-15 NKJV)
Conclusion
To be born again isn’t something that we can do on our own; rather, it’s something God has already done for us. Being born again is the recreating act of God for everyone who will believe.
But what are we to believe? We need to believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. Jesus said, “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.” (John 3:16 NKJV)
To Nicodemus, Jesus said that we cannot enter the Kingdom of God through our own strength, goodness, righteousness, or religion. Instead, like Nicodemus, we have to give up trying to get in based upon our own merits, and instead, confess, repent, and believe.
As we looked at several weeks back in our message on the Kingdom Proclamation, Jesus said it like this. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15 NKJV)
And what is the gospel? It is the good news of Jesus Christ.
Of Himself, Jesus said that He fulfilled this prophecy of the coming of the Messiah and what He would accomplish.
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” (Isaiah 61:1 NKJV)
And in Isaiah 53 concerning the coming of the Messiah it says, “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.” (Isaiah 53:5 NKJV)
And so, on the very first message of the church, the Apostle Peter gives the gospel message.
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31 NKJV)
