What It Means To Be Born Again Series

Message

Jn 2:23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name.

Jn 2:24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.

Jn 2:25 He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.

Chapter 3

Jn 3:1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council.

Jn 3:2 He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

Jn 3:3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.""

Jn 3:4 "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!

Jn 3:5 Jesus answered, I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

Jn 3:6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

Jn 3:7 You should not be surprised at my saying, You must be born again.

Jn 3:8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

Jn 3:9 How can this be? Nicodemus asked.

Jn 3:10 You are Israel’s teacher, said Jesus, and do you not understand these things?

Jn 3:11 I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.

Jn 3:12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?

Jn 3:13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven, the Son of Man.

Jn 3:14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

Jn 3:15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

Jn 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Jn 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Jn 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Jn 3:19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

Jn 3:20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

Jn 3:21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

I want to begin by mentioning two passages from the end of chapter 2: First:

Jn 2:23 many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name.

Compare that to: Jn 3:2 "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

Nicodemus was one of the people spoken of in 2:23, he had seen the miracles and he believed.

Secondly: Jn 2:25 he knew what was in a man.

Since, Jesus knew what was in a man, in John 3:3, He informs Nicodemus that "no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

Jesus was aware that a fundamental change had to take place within man.

1Co 15:21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

Nicodemus needed to be born again. Nicodemus was an heir to sin, in order to become an heir to salvation, he would have to be born again.

The way to move from being heirs with Adam and sin to heirs with Christ and life is by being born again. Nicodemus understood this and asked the question, "How can a man be born when he is old?". "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!" Nicodemus was saying a man cannot start over again.