The Significance Of The New Birth Series

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).