The Gospel & Salvation: You Must Be Born Again

The Gospel of Jesus

You Must Be Born Again

John 3:1-21

 In our efforts to understand the gospel and the work of salvation we have, for the most part, left out the teaching of our Lord Himself on this subject. We studied Genesis 3 extensively to understand the sin problem. We have focused on the death and resurrection of Jesus as recorded in the gospel to see the solution to the sin problem. We have looked at the letters of Paul to the Romans and the Ephesians to see Paul’s explanation of the work of salvation. We even looked at the Old Testament prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel. Isaiah told us of the Suffering Servant who would be crushed for our iniquities and pierced through for our transgressions. Ezekiel told us of the work of God to remove our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh.

As I thought about the message of last week and the prophecy of Ezekiel regarding the work of regeneration, I was convinced that this teaching needed some reinforcement. There is no better passage to look to for an understanding of the gospel and the work of salvation than John 3. Jesus preached the gospel to a Pharisee named Nicodemus in John 3. If I preached a series on the gospel and the work of salvation, and I did not include the words of Jesus from John 3, I would not want to stand before the Lord and give an account for that gross oversight. So turn with me to John 3 this morning and let’s look at this very instructive encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus. Let’s read verses 1-21. 

This is the record of one of the earliest one-on-one evangelistic encounters of our Lord. It is a very helpful passage in understanding the work of salvation as a new birth. As Jesus shared these insights with Nicodemus, He would have had in mind the work of salvation whereby God removes the heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh, the very thing we studied last week. When Jesus told Nicodemus he must be born again, He is describing not only the same work described by Ezekiel, but also the same work described by Paul in Ephesians 2. The gospel message is consistent from cover to cover in the Bible.

This passage contains the most well-known verse in the Bible. John 3:16 is often quoted and used to justify the belief that being saved is as easy as believing in the historical facts about Jesus’ death and resurrection. I remember watching an interview with a very popular music artist. He didn’t show much evidence of having lived life as a Christian, but he sure clung to the fact that he believed. I’m not his judge, but I am very concerned about people who claim to believe in Jesus but whose lifestyles reflect otherwise.

The theme of this passage is not “believing” in Jesus. The theme of this passage is on the necessity of being born again. We have learned of this as we have studied the doctrine of regeneration. This is the work by which God made us alive together with Christ. In this encounter with Nicodemus, Jesus destroys the religion of human achievement and defines the religion of divine accomplishment. This passage is critical to our understanding of the gospel and the work of salvation.

To see the context of this encounter we need only to look at the end of chapter 2. Read verses 23-25. Nicodemus illustrates what these verses say in two ways. First, Nicodemus is one of those who believed because of the signs which Jesus was doing. He acknowledged that the signs Jesus performed were because God was with Him. This does not mean that Nicodemus was a Christian when he came to Jesus. He believed with a non-saving faith. We know it was a non-saving faith because Jesus told Nicodemus he must be born again. 

The encounter with Nicodemus also illustrates the reality that Jesus knew what was in man. He masterfully exposes the deepest needs in the heart of Nicodemus. In both John 3 and 4, Jesus reveals His insight into the heart of people. Jesus didn’t need anyone to tell him what was in the heart of people. Jesus knew the heart of Nicodemus better than he did.

Nicodemus was a man of the Pharisees. We don’t need to spend a lot of time describing this group. We talk about them all the time. The Pharisees knew so much about the Old Testament scriptures and so little about the work of salvation. They believed that God’s favor was earned by fastidious keeping of the Law of Moses and the 600 or so oral traditions they had developed around the Law. Their religion was the epitome of the religion of human achievement. Verse 9 tells us that Nicodemus was “the teacher of Israel,” meaning this man was likely the most prominent of the teachers among the Jews. He was a very influential leader.

This is most likely why he came to Jesus by night. He wanted to ask questions and didn’t want the other Jewish leaders to see him going to meet with the Man they despised. But Nicodemus knew Jesus was from God. He acknowledged as much in his first words to Jesus. Perhaps he was hopeful that Jesus was a prophet. There hadn’t been a prophet in Israel for over 400 years. Nicodemus knew enough to understand that the works being done by Jesus could only be done by one who had come from God.

If the primary mission of Jesus would have been to convince Israel that He was their Messiah, this would have been a great place to start. If Jesus had been ready to establish His earthly kingdom, Nicodemus would have been His best ally. But Jesus didn’t come the first time to reign as an earthly king. He came to establish the kingdom of God among men. This would be a spiritual kingdom over those who are spiritually born again. While Nicodemus is asking a question concerning the identity of Jesus, Jesus gives an answer that would have been shocking to Nicodemus.

Jesus did not beat around the bush. He didn’t sugarcoat or use caution in order to soften the impact of His words. The words of Jesus were intended to confront this man with the truth of the gospel and the work of salvation. This is why Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” If you were to ask Nicodemus how a person gets to see the kingdom of God, he would have had an answer. He would have told you all that a man must do, all the requirements of God’s law to be obeyed, all the rituals and ceremonies man must observe. Nicodemus knew all of that by heart. Nicodemus knew nothing of the need to be born again to see the kingdom of God.

While he may have expected Jesus to congratulate him for his faithful keeping of the commandments of God, Jesus confronted him directly with the futility of his religion. All his efforts were worthless. Unless Nicodemus is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. The better translation of the word used here would be “born from above.” In other words, getting into the kingdom of God isn’t something a man can do for himself. Being born again was not something a man could do for himself. As a Pharisee, Nicodemus may be able to tithe of mint and cumin, and fast and pray. He could wear the long robes with the enlarged tassels and phylacteries, but he could not cause himself to be born again. The religion of human achievement fails every time.

Nicodemus asks Jesus for clarification. He asks, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” Nicodemus was a teacher. He knew the rabbinical tradition of using figurative language to teach spiritual truth. He wasn’t asking seriously about the possibility of a literal second physical birth. Nicodemus knew that could not happen.

If Jesus had told Nicodemus he needed to fast more often, or for longer, or give more money, or go to the Temple more often, or wash his hands better before eating, Nicodemus would have said, “Ok, I’ve got this. Thanks for the insight.” But Jesus was putting a requirement in front of Nicodemus he could not accomplish. In fact, Jesus was setting the requirement before Nicodemus that he walk away from everything he was counting on as the basis of his right relationship with God. This was devastating to this man.

The question of Nicodemus indicates his understanding of what Jesus is saying. Nicodemus was into the religion of human achievement much too far to start over. If he has to abandon his effort, and receive something which he is incapable of doing for himself, he sees he is in deep trouble. All Nicodemus knew was the religion of human achievement. He did not understand the religion of divine accomplishment. He was too invested in his religion to start over.

In response to the question of Nicodemus, Jesus reiterated the truth with a little additional insight into the nature of this spiritual birth. Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” 

There are a couple of interpretations of this that are not correct and do not even make sense. One is that being born of water refers to the physical birth. The baby in the womb is in water. The water breaks during the birthing process. So, some take this as meaning that being born of water means being born physically. This does not make sense. Jesus is speaking of something that must happen as part of being born again. Nicodemus was already born physically, and he could not be born physically again, obviously, so this isn’t what Jesus is talking about.

Some use this as a justification for baptismal regeneration, or the idea that baptism is necessary for salvation. Salvation cannot be accomplished by submerging someone in water. The whole point Jesus makes here is that salvation is the work of the Spirit of God. If the kingdom of God cannot be earned by all the good deeds Nicodemus had already achieved in life, certainly getting dunked in water could not do more than he had already done.

The reference to water would have been clearly understood by Nicodemus. It was a reference to the water used in purification. This water was sprinkled on the altar and the sacrifices in many of the rituals prescribed in the Old Testament. You may remember our study of Ezekiel 36 last week. Ezek. 36:25 says, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.” In the next verse the promise was, “Moreover I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Nicodemus should have understood that Jesus was connecting the water and the Spirit with these two verses.

I mentioned this last week, but this is the same reality of which Paul speaks in Titus 3:5. “He (God) saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.” 

 Verse 6 goes on to say, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” This is another Old Testament truth Nicodemus should have understood. The flesh is corrupt. All the way back in Genesis 6:11-13 we read these words, “Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth, and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.’” That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and the flesh is corrupted by sin.

Paul was another Pharisee who came to understand the truth about the flesh. He wrote in Romans 7:14, “…I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” He adds in verse 18, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.” He wrote in Romans 8:5-8, “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

Listen, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and therefore incapable of doing what needs to be done to earn salvation because the flesh is corrupt. Nicodemus is being confronted with the reality that everything he did he did according to the flesh and it was summarily being dismissed by Jesus, this teacher from God, as nothing but corrupt. His best efforts were as filthy rags.

But that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (v. 6) To be born of the Spirit is to be born again. To be born of the Spirit is to have the work of God remove our heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh. To be born of the Spirit is, as we saw last week from Ezekiel 36:27, is to have God do what He promised. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” The new creations we become, as described in 2 Cor. 5:17, involves our sprinkling clean through the cleansing of the blood of Christ, the removal of our stony hearts, the giving of a new heart of flesh, and the coming of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Jesus told Nicodemus in verse 7, “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” This should not have come as a surprise to Nicodemus. He should have known that salvation was by grace through faith. Nicodemus saw himself as a son of Abraham, but he missed the main point of Abraham’s life as a life of faith in God. As a skilled religionist Nicodemus knew the Law of God, but he failed to see that man is not justified by the keeping of the Law. He should have known that the corruption of sin could not be remedied by human effort. He should not have been surprised that salvation required the sinner to be born again.

Then Jesus turns to another powerful illustration to explain how this spiritual birth happens. Jesus was a masterful teacher. He and Nicodemus may have been sitting on the roof of the house in the cool of the evening. It may have been that the wind was blowing and Jesus seized the opportunity to explain the parallel between the blowing of the wind and the birth of the Spirit. Jesus explained that the wind blows where it wishes. There is nothing man can do to make the wind blow, or to blow from a certain direction. Man cannot make the wind blow harder or softer. The wind blows where it wishes. We can feel it and we can hear it and we can see the impact of it.

Jesus concludes the illustration with, “so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” The spiritual birth is from the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit regenerates, or brings about spiritual birth, on those whom God saves. We can’t make it happen. We can’t control how or when it happens. It is the sovereign work of God. All we can see are the effects of this work. Those who are born again by the Spirit of God will manifest the results of this new birth. 

The final words of Nicodemus in this encounter are recorded in verse 9. If he said anything else, his words are not recorded. He said, “How can these things be?” The apostle Paul helps us understand this lack of understanding on the part of Nicodemus. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 2:14, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” The idea that a man had to be born again was foolishness to Nicodemus. He could not accept this because it couldn’t be produced by human achievement. It was the work of God. Nicodemus knew a lot about God, but he didn’t know about how God worked to save sinners.

“Jesus answered and said, ‘Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?’” (v. 10) This is an indictment, not only on Nicodemus, but on the entire religious system of the Pharisees. Nicodemus was the preeminent teacher in the religion of human achievement. Jesus points to the emptiness of his understanding. Jesus did go a little easier on Nicodemus in this encounter than He often did with the Pharisees. He was known to call them “blind guides to the blind” and accuse them of making their proselytes twice as much the children of hell as they themselves were.

In verses 11-13 Jesus establishes His own authority to deliver the true gospel message because He had descended from heaven as the Son of Man. He delivered God’s truth. He descended from heaven. He bore the testimony of what He had seen and knew to be truth. He explained the truth of heavenly things in earthly illustrations. The illustration of birth was an earthly thing which Nicodemus did not understand. The illustration of the wind was an earthly thing which Nicodemus could not comprehend.

Why was Nicodemus having such a hard time with this truth? Because he could not grasp that salvation was by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. So Jesus pointed to a well-known Old Testament example found in Numbers 21. Turn there with me and lets read the account to which Jesus makes reference in verses 14-15. 

Nicodemus’ struggle to understand was the result of his blindness to the truth about faith. He and his religious system had made the work of salvation much harder than it was ever intended to be. Nicodemus had climbed the Mt. Everest of religious achievement, becoming the teacher in Israel. He added works upon works, fasting, and giving, and praying, and carefully keeping every rule in the book. He believed this is what it took. He didn’t know it was as simple as faith. It was as simple as trusting in God to do what he could never do for himself.

The rebellious people of Israel who grumbled against God and Moses in the wilderness were dying because of the bites of these fiery serpents. They cried out to Moses. They confessed their sin. Isaiah 66:2 says, “But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.” Haven’t we learned that we are saved because we repent and believe? Isn’t that what Jesus said in Mark 1:15 when He started preaching the gospel?

Jesus explained to Nicodemus that it wasn’t as hard as he had made it. It was as easy as looking in faith to the One who would be lifted up as the remedy to the sin problem. The Son of Man was to be lifted up. This was a reference to the way He would die. Just like the Israelites in the wilderness were saved from death by looking to the bronze serpent lifted up on a pole, so would the sinner be saved from eternal death by looking to Jesus in faith. Jesus would be lifted up on the Cross of Calvary to die as the innocent substitute.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son…” But God, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins…” (Eph. 2:4) God ordained that His own Son, His only begotten Son, would be lifted up on a Cross where He would pay the penalty for our sins. And God ordained that whoever would look to His only begotten Son and believe, trust, have faith in the Sinless Substitute, he or she would not perish, but have eternal life.

At the moment we look to Jesus in faith, the Holy Spirit of God regenerates. He takes out our heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh. God gives us His Holy Spirit. We are born again. God, because of the great love with which He loves us, makes us alive together with Christ. We come to be in Christ, as new creatures. Old things pass away, and new things come.

Nicodemus, I believe, did come to faith in Christ and was eventually born again. He was one of the two men who came and took the body of Jesus from the Cross and buried Him. I think this is evidence of him having come to faith in Christ. He is the only Pharisee, other than the Apostle Paul, whom we have a record of coming to faith in Christ in the Scriptures. I believe he was born again. Jesus was a remarkable evangelist.

We must be born again. Let’s pray.