Introduction:
About 25 years ago, a new phrase slipped into the American vocabulary. Actually, the expression is as old as the New Testament itself, but for many years the world had generally ignored the term. But then Charles Colson, who was a former aide to Richard Nixon and was involved in Watergate, wrote an autobiography. It was entitled Born Again. And then, we had a president -- Jimmy Carter -- who spoke often of the fact that he was born again, and ever since that time the expression has become quite popular. Quite a few folks in the entertainment world lay claim to having been born again -- including Jane Fonda, Charlie Sheen and Larry Flynt. Both of the men running for president this year -- George W. Bush and Al Gore -- claim to have been born again. In fact, approximately 50 percent of all Americans claim to have been born again.
But just what does it mean to be born again? It’s strange how few people can give a good definition for such a popular term. In John 3, Jesus indicated that Nicodemus didn’t understand what was meant by the term, and without any attempt at being unkind, let me say that I believe the majority of today’s religious world fits into the same category with Nicodemus.
And so, in our lesson this morning, I’d like for us to take a look at John chapter 3 and see exactly what Jesus meant when he spoke of being born again. As the chapter opens, we are introduced to the man who came to Jesus and initiated the whole discussion.
I. The Man Nicodemus
"There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night."(John 3:1)
There’s a lot we don’t know about Nicodemus, but there are a few things we do know. We know, for example, that Nicodemus was a Pharisee. Now it’s important that we understand who the Pharisees were. If ever there was a group which could be called religious fanatics, it was the Pharisees. There were never any more than 6000 of them at one time, so it was a very elite group. Each one of them took a solemn vow before three witnesses that he would devote every moment of his entire life to obeying the Ten Commandments, as a way of pleasing God. The Pharisees took that vow very seriously.
Unfortunately, at least for the Pharisees, the Ten Commandments are given in rather general terms. And so it became necessary to define God’s laws more clearly and to spell out how they applied to certain situations, so there developed among the Jews a group of people called the scribes. These men spent their lives studying the law of Moses and applying it to situations of life so that the Pharisees could carry out these commands and thus obey God.
The scribes took their work very seriously. In fact, to demonstrate just how seriously they took it, they compiled a very thick book, which the Jews still have today, called the Mishnah, which is devoted to applying the Ten Commandments to life. In the Mishnah, the section on obeying the rule of not working on the Sabbath takes up twenty-four chapters. Then, in addition to that, they have another book, the Talmud, which is made up of commentaries on the Mishnah. In the Talmud another 156 pages are devoted to how to keep the Sabbath. And so you can see just how serious the Pharisees were about keeping the Law.
In their interpretation of the law, the scribes decreed that any form of labor which a man engaged in to make his living was forbidden on the Sabbath. For example, a farmer could tether his animals with a rope during the week, but he couldn’t tie a knot on the Sabbath. And if a sailor tied knots in the course of his work during the week that was fine, but he couldn’t tie a knot on the Sabbath. Knot-tying was regarded as work -- with, of course, certain exceptions. Knots that could be tied with one hand were permitted, but not one that required two hands. A woman could tie a knot in her girdle or in a scarf that she tied around her neck. That was essential to women, therefore it was permitted.
So it didn’t take long for people to start looking for loopholes in order to get around these laws. If a man needed to draw a bucket of water out of a deep well, he wasn’t permitted to tie a rope onto the bucket because that would be violating the Sabbath; but if he tied the rope to a woman’s girdle and then tied the girdle to the bucket, he could draw up water! These meticulous, narrow, rigid interpretations constituted the whole life of the Pharisees. The Law said that mortar could not be made on the Sabbath for that would be work. The scribes said that if a man spat on the ground on the Sabbath it would be making mortar, therefore spitting was forbidden. But if you spat on a rock there was no dirt involved, so you could spit on a rock on the Sabbath day but not on the ground. You just had to be careful to take good aim!
The scribes decided that the distance a person was allowed to travel from his home on the Sabbath day was a thousand yards. But people soon found ingenious ways to get around that. They tied a rope at the end of the street they lived on and that made the whole street their home, therefore they could journey a thousand yards beyond that. And if people traveled around their city during the six days before the Sabbath, planting bits of food here and there, then they could call the whole city their home. Thus one could journey a thousand yards outside the city, but no further. By these ingenious applications the Pharisees attempted to observe the letter of the law and thus please God. That’s the kind of group Nicodemus was a part of.
And that’s why today, we equate Phariseeism with hypocrisy. To the Jews of that day, though, they were admired as leaders. But very few of them had good hearts. Now, there were some good men among them. And Nicodemus seems to have been one of them.
But, in spite of the fact that Nicodemus was a good man, he had not been born again. Jesus teaches us here that goodness is not enough to get us into heaven. Furthermore, Jesus teaches us here that you can be religious without having experienced the new birth.
It’s obvious that Nicodemus was a man who believed. He believed in the Almighty God. He also believed that Jesus was a teacher who had been sent from God. He accepted the genuineness of his miracles. But he still had not been born again. And it’s possible for a person today to accept many of the fundamentals of the Christian faith without being born again.
We read in verse 1 that Nicodemus went to Jesus by night. Different opinions have been offered for his going in the evening rather than during the day. He may not have wanted to be noticed. If that’s the case, it seems to indicate that he was afraid of what his fellow rulers would say and do if they knew he had talked with the one they viewed as their arch enemy. Maybe he went at night because he was busy during the day teaching the law and fulfilling his duties as a member of the Sanhedrin.
Or there may have been another reason. The rabbis declared that the best time to study the law was at night. Throughout the day, Jesus was surrounded by crowds of people all the time, teaching and performing miracles. Maybe Nicodemus wanted to talk with Jesus at night so that he could have his undivided attention. John simply doesn’t tell us why Nicodemus went to the Lord at night. But it’s not really so important why he came at night, but the fact that he did come.
It’s truly amazing that he would come to Jesus at all, because the Pharisees regarded themselves as superior to other men in spiritual status before God due to their total dedication to obeying the law of God. But not only did this Pharisee and ruler of the Jews come to Jesus, he asked certain questions of him. John tells us that he began his word with a courteous introduction, "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." (John 3:2).
Nicodemus came with a great deal of respect for Jesus, because God put his seal of approval on him by doing miracles through him. And Nicodemus recognized Jesus as a great teacher. That’s significant.
Remember that the understanding of Nicodemus (as it was with all the rulers of the Jews) was that all humanity needed in order to please God was good teaching -- you needed someone to teach you what to do and enough willpower to do it. And if a person had those two things and really worked at it, he could please God. That’s not just a view of the Pharisees of the first century. It’s a view of many folks today as well. There may even be some of you here this morning who believe that what God expects of you is to do your best to obey his commandments, to live life as best you can, to try harder and harder, and if you do that then you’ll be accepted by God.
Notice how Jesus responds.
II. The New Birth
"Jesus answered and said to him, ’Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” (John 3:3).
Here was a man who was doing his level best to obey what he thought God wanted, yet he had an empty and unsatisfied heart that led him to seek out Jesus by night, at the risk of the displeasure of his peers, to talk with him about the kingdom of God. Sensing this, Jesus says to him, in effect, "You’re wasting your time if you think you can enter the kingdom of God the way you are. You can’t do it. You must be born again."
And that wasn’t a new concept. The Jews knew all about rebirth. When a Gentile wanted to follow Judaism, he was considered to be reborn by prayer and sacrifice and baptism. The rabbis said, "A proselyte who embraces Judaism is like a new-born child." And if that’s true, then surely Nicodemus was familiar with the concept. It seems that what disturbed him was the Lord’s use of that phrase in reference to himself, someone who was already a Jew. He wondered how a Jew who was already in the covenant of God could be born again. Evidently, it had never dawned on him that Jews as well as Gentiles needed the new birth to become a part of the Messianic kingdom. Because of his confusion, the only option open to him was to inquire about physical birth. That’s why he asked, "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).
This is a frequent reaction of many people in the gospel of John. Jesus often uses symbols when he talks to individuals and they take him literally. For example, in the second chapter, Jesus said to the Jews, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again," (John 2:19). They thought he was talking about a literal building. In John 4, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman about “living water” and she wants to know where his bucket is.
When Jesus says to Nicodemus, "You must be born again," Nicodemus immediately thinks in physical terms: "How am I going to get back into my mother’s womb and start life all over when I am already old and gray? How can I do that?" It’s absurd!
Jesus says, “No, that’s not what I mean.” And then he explains what he does mean.
III. The Water and the Spirit
"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. Do not marvel that I said to you, "You must be born again."’” (John 3:5-7)
The first time, Jesus described the conversion process as being "born again". But when Nicodemus was confused, he explained by saying that to be "born again" means that one is to "be born of the water and the Spirit".
The birth process is actually very simple. Just as a child is born of a mother and a father (two parents), we have to be born of water and the Spirit (two elements). You can’t be born of the Spirit only any more than a child can be born of a father only. And you can’t be born of the water only any more than you can be born of a mother only. Just as two parents are involved in the birth of a child, two elements are involved in the spiritual birth process. And, in fact, there are other similarities.
A child is born of his father in that he is begotten by him. The father plants the seed. In a similar manner, we’re born of the Spirit in that we are begotten by him. He plants the seed. Now, the seed is the word of God. The Spirit uses the Word of God to plants the seed in our hearts. So that’s why we can say that we are begotten by the Spirit or we could say, as Peter did, "Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever." (I Peter 1:23).
The Spirit is an essential element. But so also is water. And it’s very clear from the context that Jesus is talking about baptism. John’s baptism was the sensation of the nation at this time. Everyone was talking about it. The Pharisees had sent a delegation to John to ask him why he was baptizing. The meaning of John’s baptism was the central theological question of that day. Jesus tells us here what baptism signifies. It’s not the water itself that changes anybody. Some people believe that if they baptize their babies that will assure the children entrance into the kingdom of heaven; or if they themselves were to be baptized as adults that would guarantee them admittance into heaven. That’s simply not true. Water doesn’t change anybody. It may make you a little cleaner, you might even smell better, but it doesn’t make you any different in God’s eyes. The significance of baptism is that it is a response of faith in Christ and a response of repentance, an honest admission of need.
I want to tell you that the one thing that keeps most people from being born again is that they do not want to admit their need. They don’t want to admit that they have sinned. They still cling to the idea that there is some good thing about them that God ought to accept, and if they do more good than bad he ought to let them into glory. No, repentance is necessary, an awareness that despite your best efforts you are not fulfilling God’s law. You desperately need a Savior. That’s what baptism acknowledges.
And when a person comes with a faith in Christ, repenting of his sin, and goes down into the waters of baptism, then the Spirit does something. God does what no man can do: he imparts his own life to that individual. When you think about it, what is a birth but an impartation, or transferal, of life? When a husband and wife have a child, what have they done? In a most remarkable way they have transferred their lives to that child; they have imparted life.
According to the second chapter of the book of Acts, 3000 Jews were born of the water and the Spirit on the first day of Pentecost following the Lord’s resurrection from the dead. The Spirit convicted them of sin by means of the inspired word of the apostles (Acts 2:4,37). Following their conviction, they were commanded to "repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." (Acts 2:38). 3000 people were then baptized.
They were begotten by the Spirit and brought forth by the water. Just as two parents are necessary for physical birth, so also are two elements necessary for spiritual birth. But then Jesus uses some mysterious language.
IV. The Mystery
“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).
Jesus says to Nicodemus that the new birth will result in a totally new lifestyle; he will never be the same. He illustrates this with another symbol: the wind. While Jesus and Nicodemus were talking they could probably hear the wind blowing through the streets of Jerusalem. Jesus said, "The wind blows where it wants to." It is sovereign; no man can direct it.
Isn’t it remarkable that this is still true today? The weather forecasters tell us every day where the jet stream is, but they cannot tell us exactly where it’s going to be tomorrow. It goes where it wants to go; nobody has been able to control it. We can’t even figure out what makes it move.
That’s very similar to the life of someone who is born again. There is a different drumbeat in his life, a different Lord directing his affairs, and that will make him behave differently. Someone on the outside will have a hard time understanding that change. They can’t explain it any more than they can explain the wind. But it’s there.
I heard once of a Christian in England who was asked to sign a church guest register. He noticed that a number of previous guests had entered their degrees after their names. He wanted to put some letters after his name, but had never been to a university. So he wrote, "John Smith, BA and MA." When he was asked what the letters stood for, he said, "John Smith, Born Again, and Marvelously Altered!"
Jesus is saying, "Do not marvel at that; that is to be expected." When God’s life becomes your life, you can expect a lot of changes. It may take awhile; there is growth involved. You are like a new baby at first, but you’ll never be the same person; you’re headed on a path different from the one which you used to travel. You’ve been born again.
Conclusion:
It’s significant to notice that the new birth is not an optional matter. Jesus did not say you "should" be born again, or you "ought" to be born again or that you "can" be born again if you want to. Rather, he stated that a person "must" experience the new birth if he wants to be a part of God’s kingdom.
It is said that John Wesley’s favorite text, which he preached all through England, Wales and Scotland, was this, "You must be born again." Someone said to him once, "Why do you preach so often on ’you must be born again’?" Wesley’s answer was, "Because -- you must be born again." That’s what Jesus is saying.
Each of you here this morning must be born again. Someone might say, "I come from a good family." Surely, Nicodemus could have said the same thing. But Jesus said, "You must be born again."
Another person may say, "I’ve been good all my life." I heard of one lady, who tried to excuse herself from God command by saying, "I have been a good sinner." How about that for a contradiction in terms? Likely, Nicodemus had been good all of his life but Jesus told him he had to be born again.
Someone might say, "I’m living better than I used to." But reformation alone can’t take the place of the new birth. If you want to enter the kingdom of God, you must be born again -- born of the water and the Spirit.
I heard about an old country doctor who went way out to the boondocks to deliver a baby. It was so far out, there was no electricity. When the doctor arrived, no one was home except for the laboring mother and her 5-year-old child.
The doctor instructed the child to hold a lantern high so he could see, while he helped the woman deliver the baby.
The child did so, the mother pushed and after a little while, the doctor lifted the newborn baby by the feet and spanked him on the bottom to get him to take his first breath.
No sooner had he done this when another baby popped out, Then another, and yet another. At this time, the little boy blew out the lantern.
The doctor said, "What did you do that for?"
The little boy said, “I think the light’s attracting them.”
It may be this morning that God’s light is attracting you and you have the desire to be born this morning -- born a second time, born of the water and the Spirit. Having heard God’s Word, you want to respond expressing your faith in Jesus Christ, repenting of your sin, and being baptized here this morning.
