What Does It Mean To Be Born Again?

Scripture: John 3:1-15; Ezekiel 36:25-27; Romans 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 3:18

Theme: Redemption – Salvation – Born Again

Title: What does it mean to be Born Again?

What does it mean to be Born Again into the Kingdom of God?

INTRO:

Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Picture yourself into what is going on in our passage this morning.

Soon after Passover, you find yourself walking down one of the many streets in the city of Jerusalem. The sun is setting in the west and with each minute it is becoming more difficult to make out the faces of the people walking along the streets.

You are not sure, but you think you just recognized someone across the street that is very important. Someone you wouldn’t think would be in this neighborhood.

Later, you discovered that you were right. The person you thought you recognized was in fact the Pharisee named Nicodemus. He had been quietly and cautiously making his way to where Jesus of Nazareth was staying. It’s being reported that he wanted to have a private meeting with Jesus.

Just who was this Nicodemus and why did he choose this time of the day to meet with Jesus?

Was it because he didn’t want to be seen or was there some other reason?

Who Nicodemus was is quite an easy question to answer.

Why did he come at night? Well, that is not so easy.

First, Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a central member of the Jewish Sanhedrin. Those two things in and of themselves were a big deal.

At that time there was a limit on who could join the ranks of being a Pharisee. Only 6,000 men could officially bear the title of being a Pharisee.

Now, that sounds like a great number but when we consider that it is estimated that there were over 2 million Jews in the Palestinian area alone it pretty impressive.

To be a part of that highly selected 6,000, a person had to pledge in the presence of three witnesses that they would do their best to live out the life that God had intended for them according to the Law of Moses.

Again, that doesn’t sound so difficult on the surface. That is until you begin to look at exactly what it meant to live by the Law of Moses. It meant that you were going to live according to the dictates of some 613 specific laws – 365 negative commands and 248 positive commands.

In addition to each of these laws were layered sub section laws and regulations that one had to make sure that they carefully obeyed.

Let’s take the Sabbath law for example. When one reads the 10 Commandments the requirements for the Sabbath day seems quite straightforward –

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8-11 ESV)

Simple, yes? But by the time in our story, trying to obey the Sabbath law had become quite a difficult task. Religious leaders in doing their best to obey the Law had sadly made it almost impossible to obey the Law.

Now, they had not done this to hinder or harm anyone. They had this foundational belief that if God’s people could for just one day obey all His commandments perfectly then the people of Israel would become a free and independent nation again. That the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY would raise up a new King David to sit on the throne and that that Israel could be the shinning example for the whole world to see.

It was believed that one of the main reasons for the exile and for the Romans being in power over Israel was Israel’s stubbornness to obey God’s laws. That the way to true freedom was to teach and have the people of God very diligently and obediently live out the Mosaic Law.

All of this caused the Pharisees and scribes to dissect the laws to the 10th degree. They pondered over what the word “work” really meant. Was it work to walk a certain distance or was it work to do one’s dirty dishes on the Sabbath? Was it work to cook a meal on the Sabbath and was it work to pick up one’s clothes or even to help someone get up if they fell?