Title: Ye must be born again! Nov.11, 01
Text: John 3:1 - 7
Intro:
Ill. Billy Graham
Tells of a time early in his ministry when he arrived in a small town to preach at a meeting. He had arrived a little bit early to finish writing a letter for back home. As he finished the letter, he asked a young boy standing on the sidewalk of the location of the town post office. When the boy had given him the direc-tions, Mr. Graham thanked him and said, “If you will come to the Baptist church this evening, you can hear me tell everyone how to get to heaven.” “I don’t think I will be there.” The little boy replied, “You don’t even know your way to the post office, let alone how to get to heaven.”
One of the greatest tragedies in religion today is the fact that most church members to include a lot of religious leaders do not know how they can go to heaven when the Bible tells us how we can.
Here in John chapter three, Jesus talks with a Religious leader whose name was Nicodemus, and in their conversation, Jesus explains to this man exactly how a person can go to heaven. And in this passage before us today, Jesus tells Nicodemus some three things about salvation and going to heaven.
Now notice, the first thing Jesus tells Nicodemus is: in order to be saved and go to heaven -
I. Ye must be born again! V.3
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Listen, that is the only way to heaven – to be born again! Now I find that very interesting. You see Nicodemus was a ….
A. RELIGIOUS MAN
According to verse (1) the Bible says that Nicodemus was a Pharisee. He was a Separatist who kept himself from…..
* liquor
* immorality
* anything he might do that would break the Old Testament Law
He was one of the most religious people of his day. In fact, verse 10, Nicodemus was a great Teacher of the Law. And yet in spite of all his religious credentials, Jesus still tells him that in order to get to Heaven, he must be born again.
Listen, there are a lot of people in America today expecting to get into Heaven because they
* follow a set of religious principles
* go to church on Sunday’s
* don’t lie, steal or drink
But Jesus is telling you this morning that your religion is not enough to get you to Heaven. There is only one way to Heaven and that is God’s way, which is through Jesus Christ – he’s the only way you can go to Heaven. Jesus told Nicodemus –
JOHN 3:7
Ye must be born again.
JOHN 14:6
I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Nicodemus was not only a Religious man, he was a …….
B. PRESTIGIOUS MAN
According to verse (1), we find that Nicodemus was a Ruler of the Jews. He was a member of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was the Jewish Supreme Court of his day. This man had made it to the top of the ladder in the eyes of his society. Here was a man of religion, position and popularity and yet with all of that he was an -
C. EMPTY MAN
You see that is one of the problems with religion. Religion tells you to
* perform, get baptized
* work for your salvation, do your good deeds
* follow the 10 commandments – this is the way of salvation
The only problem is, is that your religion will leave you void, lonely and empty on the inside – never satisfied with yourself. Sad to say, there are literally thousands of church members all over America today who are religious, but they are empty! You see with religion, every time you fail, every time you sin you have to go back to the beginning and start all over again. And it is an end-less vicious circle the devil would like to keep you in so he can take you to hell.
And I believe Nicodemus was tired of living like that. The reason I say that is because Nicodemus came searching for Jesus. He knew there was something missing in his life. I believe he was tired of trying to…..
* work for his salvation
* obey a strict set of religious rules he knew he could never keep
So Nicodemus came to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me say he made the right decision.
Listen to me this morning, if you are trying to get to heaven by…….
* working your way
* trying to live a sinless life
Forget all of that and come to Jesus Christ and allow him to create a new person. Jesus told Nicodemus first of all: ye must be born again! There was a second thing that Jesus explained to him and that was -
II. What it means to be born again V.4 -5
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Now when Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be born again, Nicodemus had a difficult time understanding all of that. And so Jesus explains to him in verse (5) the nature of what it means to be born again.
1. Jesus says first of all, a person must be born of water.
This is that physical birth we all have been through – that is if you are normal. It was our physical birth that gave all of us life here on Earth.
2. Then he goes on to say that you must be born of the Spirit.
And the reason we all must be born of the Spirit is because from the day you were born physically, you were born with a nature and tendency to sin.
Ill. That is why you do not have to teach a child to lie when you ask if they were in the cookie jar – his nature is to lie
The Bible teaches according to Ephesians 2:1, that from birth we were all dead in trespasses and sins – unable to do what is right:
That’s why an unsaved sinner continually struggles with sin. Spiritually he is dead and has no power to give it up! That is why -
* A gambler will continue to gamble even though his credit card is maxed and
his checking account overdrawn.
* A drunkard will continue to drink, even though he knows his family has no
food on the table at home.
* A drug addict will continue to stick a dirty needle in his veins knowing he
might get AIDS.
* A thief will continue to steal
All of them are powerless to give it up because they are dead and need Jesus Christ to make them alive.
JOHN 8:36 – For whom the Son sets free is free indeed!
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
You see when you allow the Holy Spirit of God to come into your heart, he –
· Transforms you
· Saves you
· Seals you
· Breaks the chains of sin that bind you.
That is the Nature of the New Birth – do you have it? Have you been born again?
Listen, the only way you can go to Heaven when you die is to be saved, and God is giving you a chance to do that today.
Jesus told Nicodemus:
1. Ye must be born again
2. What it means to be born again
III. How to be born again V.9,15
Let me for the next couple of minutes tell you exactly how you can be born again.
A. Realize
1. YOU ARE A SINNER!
Romans 3:23 – For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:10 - As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
2. YOU CANNOT SAVE YOURSELF!
Our righteousness is as filthy rags – God requires absolute perfection, and there has never been a man on this earth other than Jesus Christ who has ever lived a sinless perfect life. So God will never be satisfied with your works – in Gods eyes your good works amount to nothing at all.
B. Recognize
1. God is angry with those who continue in their sin.
PSALM 7:11
God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.
2. God’s infinite love for you!
Jesus told Nicodemus: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
C. Repent and believe in Jesus
As Jesus talked with Nicodemus, some (5) different times Jesus mentioned that you must BELIEVE!
And when Jesus told Nicodemus that he must believe in Jesus Christ in John 3:16, what he was saying is that all of us need to…..
· Believe in God for salvation and nothing else
· Totally rely upon the payment that Jesus made at Calvary 2000 years ago
· Turn to Jesus today and ask him to save you from your sins.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again!
