John 3:1-15
Download 🎧 Regeneration
Listen 🎧
We continue our series through The Gospel According to John. And this morning, I want us to look at the central theme of this Chapter: Born Again. Look at (vv.3, 5;7;8). So our title this morning will be Regeneration or Born Again.
I will use the two words interchangeably. In this chapter, The apostle John introduces us to a conversation Jesus had with a man called Nicodemus (v.1). The apostle doesn’t only tell us the man’s name. But he goes further to give us more description about the man’s status in society. He was a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews. This tells us that Nicodemus was a religious and prominent man. Listen to a description of who a Pharisee is.
The Pharisees is the name of a Jewish religious party in biblical times. They were both religious leaders and involved in national politics. The Pharisees held seats in the Jewish ruling council called the Sanhedrin The Pharisees were teachers and pastors, what the Jewish people today call Rabbis. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, they received the backing and goodwill of the common people [1]
But as we proceed in this sermon, we will discover that, Nicodemus, though a religious and prominent man in society, he lacked something. We also notice that Nicodemus is able to tell who a man from God is (v.2). Nicodemus said true things about Jesus. Rightly, he identified Jesus by the things he witnessed: “for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” These signs: What signs is he speaking about? Remember last week, we closed off with the verses 23-25 of Chapter 2. These signs Nicodemus is speaking about therefore are the signs Jesus did in Jerusalem. This means that he was among the people who saw the signs Jesus did. Some commentators have actually suggested that Chapter three should begin with verses 23 of Chapter 2.
You will notice also that, while the people approached Jesus during the day, he approached Jesus in the night. Why?
There are at least three possibilities to think about.
The Fear of the Pharisees The Pharisees were a separatist group who will not have anything to do with the common people. Also, in the gospels, we see the Pharisees running into trouble often with Jesus. And if Nicodemus were to be seen with him, it might create problems for him. Later on in the gospel, we see Nicodemus attempting to defend Jesus and he was shut down ( John 7:45-52).
So his coming by night may be induced by fear.
Uninterrupted interaction Some scholars have indicated Nicodemus came by night so he will have uninterrupted interaction with Jesus. As a Rabbi, Jesus may be busy during the day and may not have time for Nicodemus. I personally don’t favour this. I believe he came by night especially for fear of his fellow Pharisee. Considering the later events we refereed to in John 7:45-52 earlier.
A Troubled soul. Having seen all that transpired during the day, Nicodemus may truly have been wondering, who is this man? Is he the Messiah? These thoughts may have haunted throughout the day. And he couldn’t bear with them again. So he sneaked out to see Jesus in the night when no one will spot him. Remember Jesus’ own disciples, in the midst of a storm, Jesus rose and silenced the storm. They were struck with awe and asked: What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” (Matthew 8:27). Have you ever paused to ask who Jesus is? How often do you think of his goodness and mercies towards you? Do you consider these things at all?
Nicodemus I believe approached Jesus to settle all the things going on his his mind and heart. His soul was in turmoil. The night signifies that. In the night when you are left all alone. That is when perhaps the pains of life rear their head at you. You are all alone in your night hour: “weeping may endure for a night”. That tells us something about the night. In his troubled hour, Nicodemus came to Jesus. He came for answers. He was an enquirer.
Let me ask you: “Where do you go with your troubled soul? Just like Nicodemus came to Jesus. I want to recommend to you, to look to Jesus when life doesn’t make sense. Look up to Christ. Look up to him.”
How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds
In a believer’s ear!
It soothes his sorrow, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear,
It makes the wounded spirit whole,
And calms the troubled breast;
’Tis manna to the hungry soul,
And to the weary rest.
Jesus, our Savior, Shepherd, Friend,
Our Prophet, Priest, and King;
Our Lord, our Life, our Way, our End,
Accept the praise we bring,
We are now getting into the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. And the conversation begins from verse 2 going. I want you to pay particular attention to the verses 2 and 3.
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 (v.2).
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God (v.3).
There is a certain disconnection between what Nicodemus said and Jesus reply. And I hope you noticed it when we were reading it. Look at it again. Let me pause for you to look at it again if you may notice the disconnect. Now, in the verse 2, Nicodemus acknowledges who Jesus is. He praises Jesus. He said true things about Jesus. And you would have expected Jesus to at least acknowledge all what Nicodemus said. If I were Jesus, I will go like “Wow, great, I am glad you have finally come to know who I am. What took you this long to come to this realisation.”
But no, Jesus brushed aside everything Nicodemus said. His reply really has no connection with Nicodemus’ statement. Remember in the previous verses (John 2:23-25), we are told Jesus knows all people. So his reply was like, look, Nicodemus, this is not why you came here. I know why you came.
Let’s deal with it: that is, the state of your soul: You must be born again. You know sometimes when someone comes to you with a request, they will not go straight to the point and they will just be meandering around, that is the kind of thing we are experiencing here. Nicodemus will not go straight to the point.
But Jesus knowing all things will rightly diagnose Nicodemus’ need. Verse 3 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” This brings us to the points of our sermon. When Jesus told Nicodemus he has to be born again, what did he mean? And what is the Necessity to be born again.
You will recall earlier, I did note that Nicodemus lacked something. And we see these things clearly as the conversation proceeds. Nicodemus was Spiritually Blind, he lacked spiritual understanding. He lacked appreciation of spiritual things. He cannot see the kingdom of God. Some of the original meanings of the word see in verse 3 is to perceive with the mind, to experience or become acquainted with.
So while Jesus was speaking about a spiritual matter, Nicodemus was speaking earthly things. Throughout this conversation, there was a disconnect. Jesus is saying one thing, Nicodemus was saying another thing
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? (v.4)
Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be? (v.9)
Dear friends, this is a clear misunderstanding of what Jesus was saying. And it clearly points us to Nicodemus’ Spiritual Blindness and lack of Spiritual Understanding. The apostle Paul is helpful to make us understand what Spiritual Blindness looks like
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14).
Who is the natural man? The natural man is simply every human being who is born into this world. And from the text, the natural man Rejects Spiritual truth (does not accept the things of the Spirit of God), Cannot Understand Spiritual Truth (he is not able to understand them). In this conversation, we see clearly the effect of Nicodemus’ spiritual blindness.
And this lack of spiritual understanding is not only the problem of Nicodemus. It is the problem of all humanity. This lack is due to the nature of man. We are sinful beings and our sin has rendered us unable to understand anything spiritual for us to come to God. We are dead in sins (Ephesians 2). We have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).We were conceived in sin (Psalm 51). Our hearts is desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9).
Now from John 3: 5-8 Jesus explained what he means by been Born again to Nicodemus. From these verses, to be born again is to be born by the Spirit of God: “born of water and spirit”(that two is simply speaking of been born by the Spirit of God.), “So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” The phrase born again in the original language also means to be born from above, that is, born of the Spirit of God.
To be born again therefore is a spiritual birth different from our natural birth. It is a New Birth. A Second Birth. It’s a total change of our sinful old nature. Our desires and affections are now changed to desire to please God. God gives us new life when we are Born Again. John Calvin in his commentary on John says “By the phrase born again is expressed not the correction of one part, but the renovation of the whole nature.”
All humans are born naturally by the will of man. By the will of the flesh. By the desires of a man and woman. Note the distinction Jesus makes between Flesh and Spirit: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” So to be Born Again is to be Born By The Spirit. By the will of God and not man. John has made this distinction already in John 1:12-13.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
See, after Jesus has explained what it means to be born again, Nicodemus was still confused. Verse 9 “Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be?” Jesus’ response is that of surprise. Verse 10-12
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?
Jesus was human right? And at this point he is shocked at Nicodemus’ ignorance. This is a religious man. This is someone who teaches the Law. Jesus’ answer then meant that, as a teacher of the law, he should know what it means to be born again. This again means, to be born again is not something new Jesus had come up with. To be born again is not a New Testament concept. It means the concept is taught in the Old Testament. So we go to the Old Testament to find out what it means to be born again. Ezekiel 36:24-32
24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleanness. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you.
30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.
31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations.
32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel
This is what it means to be born again
Separation from the world (v.24)
Spiritual cleansing and forgiveness of sins (v.25–Sanctification)
Spiritual Change of Heart (v.26 Regeneration)
Spiritual Filling by the Holy Spirit (v.27 Spirit indwelling)
Spiritual Reconciliation (v.28)
Sorrow and Repentance (v.31).
Note that every action in Ezekiel is carried out by God. Even the sorrow and repentance over sin is produced by God. This is the overarching reality that Salvation is all of God. See the number of times the Scripture speaks of God’s action: “ I will…” ( vv.24; 25;26;27;28;29;30). It’s all of God. In verse 32; God says he acts not for the sake of Israel, but for his own sake. It’s all of God
The Necessity of Regeneration
You will observe that in verse 3 and verse 5, an emphasis is placed on the necessity of Regeneration when Jesus began his words with “Truly,Truly…” That phrase was to point out the importance of what Jesus was saying. It needed Nicodemus’ rapt attention.
You know in our modern writing, we have various tools by which we place emphasis on things we want to say. There is the italics, there is the bold font, there is underlining and sometimes people will write in all capitals to place emphasis. In Jesus’ time, one of the ways of placing emphasis and importance was repetition.
unless one is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God (v.3)
unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (v.5).
These two tells us Regeneration or Born Again is a requirement to enter the Kingdom of God or gain access to the Kingdom of God. Consider Regeneration as the visa to enter the Kingdom of God. A Latin phrase is best used to describe this. It is a “sine qua non.” Which means something that is “ an indispensable and essential action, condition, or ingredient.”
To be Born Again therefore, is necessary to enter the Christian faith. It’s necessary for salvation. To be Born Again is necessary for a relationship with God. To be Born Again is necessary for entry into the Kingdom of God. Without this, one cannot enter the Kingdom of God or be saved. Let me here attempt an explanation of the Kingdom of God
When we speak of a Kingdom, it is a place with a King and subjects. In our modern times, perhaps the closest we can come to in describing a Kingdom is the United Kingdom ruled by a monarchy. When we speak about the Kingdom of God, it is that spiritual realm where God is King and rules over his people. God’s kingdom is manifested in our age in the lives and hearts of God’s people and in the age to come. Everyone who has a relationship with God through Christ is a member of this Kingdom. The kingdom of God simply is God’s rule over his people. And in our context, we can talk about the universal church. This kingdom comprises of all people who have placed their faith in Christ
Like Nicodemus asked “How Can these things be?” You see, this is a work of God, and we cannot produce it by ourselves. This new life is a work of God’s Spirit in our hearts where he applies the work of Christ to our hearts. Jesus Christ died so that sinners will be reconciled to God. So that sinners, who are outside of God’s Kingdom will be brought into God’s Kingdom. So that sinners who are enemies of God will become friends of God. So that sinners who are outcasts will now become.
And in this conversation, Jesus made a clear allusion to his death and resurrection by quoting an incident in the Old Testament. An incident Nicodemus will clearly understand. Which all of us will also know. In Numbers 21, the Israelite sinned against God and he sent serpents to bite them to death. When the people repented, God commanded Moses to erect a bronze serpent so that everyone bitten by the serpent will look at it and live. Jesus now points to this incident and said in verses 14-15 that “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.”
It’s in the death and resurrection of Christ that sinners are saved. And God uses his word as the means by which the heart of sinners are changed. And sinners will have to believe this word.
Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you (1 Peter 1:22-25)
This is the good news. That Christ died for sinners that whoever believes in him will be saved. Believe this and be saved. Only believe.
Notes:
- (https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/who-were-the-pharisees)
Facebook Comments