“BORN OF THE SPIRIT” John 3:4-8
INTRO – How important is life? This past week, we were all shocked to the core as we watched the horror of the events that unfolded in Nickel Mines, PA, as Charles Carl Roberts walked into a one-room Amish schoolhouse and proceeded to kill five girls, ages 7 to 13. Once again, we were reminded of how fragile our life on earth truly is.
John 3 is a chapter about life, spoken by Jesus, the One who is Life, who was given all authority by God the Father, the Author of life. Any teacher of that day could have uttered the same words, “except a man be born he cannot enter the Kingdom of God,” and he would have been laughed out of town. How ridiculous an idea! What a crazy concept! Where did you come up with that?
But when those words are spoken by the Lord Jesus, who, as Nic. himself said, had “come from God,” they carry eternal weight and significance. They make the difference between eternal life and eternal condemnation. Not only had Jesus come from God, but Jesus was God, and Jesus is God. When He spoke, He spoke the words of God b/c He was the Word of God. John 1:1: “IN THE beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself.” (AMP) When Jesus spoke about Kingdom of God, He spoke as the King of kings and Lord of lords. When He spoke about new birth and salvation, He spoke as the spotless Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world as John the Baptist would proclaim; who would give up His life so that we might have life; who would shed His blood to cover our sins b/c the Scriptures say that w/out the shedding of blood, there could be no forgiveness of sin. When He spoke of the Holy Spirit, He spoke as the One who would send the Holy Spirit – “…if I go, I will send [the Holy Spirit] to you…” (John 16:7). When He spoke of all of these things, He spoke with all the authority of heaven, all the authority of God, all the authority that had been given to Him. Yes, Nic., He was a “teacher who has come from God.” But He was and is so much more! As one unknown writer put it:
He had no cornfields or fisheries, but He could spread a table for five thousand and have bread and fish to spare. He walked on no beautiful carpets or velvet rugs, but He walked on the waters of the Sea of Galilee and they supported Him.
When He died, few men mourned. But a black crepe was hung over the sun. Though men trembled not for their sins, the earth beneath them shook under the load. All nature honored Him. Sinners alone rejected Him. Corruption could not get hold of His body. The soil that had been reddened with His blood could not claim His dust.
He wrote no book, built no church house. But after nineteen hundred years, He is the one central character of human history, the pivot around which the events of the ages revolve, and the only Regenerator for the Human Race.
Was He merely the Son of Joseph and Mary, who crossed the world’s horizon nineteen hundred years ago. Was it merely human blood that was spilled at Calvary’s Hill for the redemption of sinners? What thinking man can keep from exclaiming: "My Lord and My God!" (Encyclopedia of 15,000 Illustrations)
This is the One who speaks to us today about life, not temporary life that can be taken away in an instant, but eternal life – life born of the Spirit – that can never be taken away.
I. He is the One who speaks to us about entering the Kingdom of God – v. 4-5
Nic’s question was an honest question. Jesus had just made a unique, life-altering statement in v. 3 – “except a man be BORN AGAIN, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” The thought of being born again, or born anew, was a radical concept that obviously confused Nic., leading him to ask the question in v. 4.
Like many people today, Nic. wanted to have all the answers. Everything needed to make sense to him. Everything had to add up just right. Everything had to fit together in a logical, orderly way. “Being born again” definitely didn’t fit into that line of thinking. As Warren Wiersbe states: “Like many people today, Nic. confused the spiritual and the physical. He thought in terms of physical birth, while Christ was talking about a spiritual birth. Men need to learn that all of us are born wrong! Our ‘first birth’ (physical) makes us children of Adam, and this means that we are children of wrath & children of disobedience. No amount of education, discipline, or religious activity is going to change this old nature of ours; we must receive a new nature from G before we can see heaven or enter it.”
Nic. wanted all the answers when the Answer Incarnate was right in front of him speaking to him about the new birth. Like his fellow Jews, Nic. thought being born a Jew and keeping all of God’s laws would guarantee him entrance into heaven. But Jesus Christ, the only One who would truly & completely keep all of God’s laws and truly & completely satisfy God’s righteousness, authoritatively stated, “you must be born again.”
II. He is the One who speaks to us about the work of the Holy Spirit – v. 5-8
When Nic. asked for some clarification about being born again, Jesus made it clear that this new birth has nothing to do w/ one’s physical birth. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ answer to Nic., he referred to the role of the Holy Spirit 3 times – v. 5-8. One theologian stated, “The Holy Spirit is the divine Source of spiritual regeneration. When Jesus spoke of being born of the Spirit, He meant that the second birth comes out of the Spirit…He is its divine origin” (Robert Gromacki, Understanding Christian Theology, p. 472).
The new birth is a spiritual birth. It is required by God the Father, provided by Jesus, God the Son, and produced by the God the Holy Spirit. Salvation is a work of the Triune God. Even in this passage, we see the Son of God led by the Father speaking about the necessity of the work of the Spirit of God in salvation. What an incredible glorious truth!
Many have questioned what Jesus meant by His reference to being “born of water.” Did He mean that one had to be baptized in order to be born again? If this were the case, then Russ would not be born again b/c he was not able to be baptized today. Jesus certainly did not mean that water baptism was necessary for the new birth b/c you cannot produce a spiritual birth by physical means! “This is why ‘born of water’ in v. 5 cannot mean literal water, for baptism would be applying a physical substance (water) to the physical being, and this could never bring about a spiritual birth.” (Wiersbe) Remember that Jesus was strongly emphasizing the work of the Spirit in these verses, and the fact that we have to be born of the Spirit in order to be born again. John 6:63 – “The Spirit gives life…” It is the Spirit that gives life!
III. He is the One who speaks to us about the mystery of the work of the Spirit – v. 8
I’m so thankful that our God is bigger than we are, that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and His ways higher than our ways, as OT prophet Isaiah stated. I’m so thankful that His work is a mysterious work that cannot be fully explained, fully understood, and fully realized this side of heaven. Paul told us in 1 Cor.13:12 – “We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!” (MSG)
The work of the Spirit is LIKE the blowing of the wind. No way to know exactly where or when the wind began blowing. No way to know exactly where or when it is going to end. Truth is that right here today in this place, there’s no way to know exactly what the Spirit is doing in a person’s life. He may be gently blowing in your heart, or you might have hurricane-force winds blowing in your soul. That is completely and totally up to His plan and purpose for your life – “The wind blows wherever it pleases…”
While His work may be a mystery, there is no mystery to what you and I must do when the Spirit does blow into our hearts. Whether it is a gentle breeze or a mighty wind, we must respond in obedience.
So the closing question today is: How is the Spirit blowing in your heart today? What do you need to do to be obedient to Him?
