Have you been Born Again?

Bringing us up to date from the end of the 2nd Chapter, we saw many who believed in Jesus due to the fact that he had performed signs and spoke with authority in the Temple as he confronted those who were selling sacrifices and the religious leaders who were hypocrites. One of those who recognized Jesus as being from God, and had belief in Him because of the signs that He did was Nicodemus, as we see here in John 3:1:


1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a member of the religious sect of the Jews. The Pharisees were a party of those who desired to be separate (this is what the name Pharisee means) from the rest of the people. The way that they separated was by keeping the Law of Moses, as well as a group of other laws that they had made on the side to clarify and improve on the law of God. These Pharisees were a special target of Jesus, because in their keeping of the special laws they had become very religious, but also very far from God. They found their righteousness in their works. In other words, they were very religious and very self- righteous. If you would ask a Pharisee, they would believe that God was very proud of them because of their behavior. They also compared their behavior against other people’s behavior, believing that they were superior to others. This is why the Pharisees were always around when Jesus spoke, for Jesus’ teachings were in complete opposition to the Pharisee’s worldview.

Nicodemus was also a leader of the Jews. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Jews. The Sanhedrin was made up of 70 members, and they were responsible for religious decisions as well as limited civil rule under the Romans. For example, it was the Sanhedrin that judged Jesus and turned him over to the Romans for punishment. In verse 10, we see also that Nicodemus was also a teacher of the Jews. The use of the word ‘the’ in verse 10 indicates a definite article that would separate Nicodemus from the other teachers; apparently he was a master teacher. He had attained a high standing among the teachers of His day. He was a leader not only in the civil and religious sense, he also set the standard as a greatly educated man and teacher of the people. He was a man of high moral character, deep religious hunger, and yet he was spiritually blinded to whom he was speaking with, as well as the clear truth of the scripture he taught to the nation.

2This 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."

Why did Nicodemus come to Jesus by night? There could be many reasons that he came to Jesus at night. Some have taken a symbolic tact, seeing that Nicodemus was in spiritual darkness that he was not aware of until Jesus exposed it. Others postulate he was fearful of the eyes of the other members of the Sanhedrin. Perhaps he simply wanted to spend an extended time with Jesus away from the crowds. Whatever the reason, He was about to have his eyes opened wide about his own spiritual condition, as well as the spiritual condition of the nation in which he taught and ruled.

Nicodemus addressed Jesus as rabbi and teacher. These were perhaps titles of respect, or even ones of flattery. The pronoun we indicates that he and others recognized that Jesus was a teacher. The position of this account in the book of John indicates Nicodemus was one of those who had believed in Jesus due to the signs that he performed. This visit at night was to determine who Jesus was in better depth, and to find out what he was doing. The signs Jesus performed already demonstrated to Nicodemus and those that he represented that He had come from God. This is why Nicodemus knew that He was no ordinary teacher or Rabbi. However, by addressing Jesus by these terms, Nicodemus demonstrated ignorance as to who Jesus Christ was in truth.

3Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

By this answer, Jesus cuts to the quick, addressing Nicodemus’ most pressing need. He was not on the same level as Nicodemus was as a Rabbi and a teacher; rather, He was one who had come from above (anothen, which means both again and from above in the Greek). Nicodemus was good by the standards of humans all around him, in fact, He was superior to many. Yet his education and his position still left him in spiritual darkness. He needed a re-birth from above to transition from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of God. No amount of learning, religious discipline, or leadership of the people would help Nicodemus get any closer to the thing that he was seeking; that being God’s approval. Only regeneration, that is, being born again, could give Nicodemus what he was seeking, but didn’t even know He needed.

This was another proof of Jesus’ deity; for he was able to see the need that people didn’t know they had. He was able to see into their soul and know it was darkened. When Nicodemus walked into the room, Jesus already had identified what his need was. He didn’t see a great religious leader and teacher, He saw a lost sinner who needed to be saved. In our community, there are many religious people who are highly educated and believe that through their position in the church and in the community and by the works that they do that they are in good with God and are on their way to heaven. But the message for them and for us is the same. Jesus looks into our church and looks right at me and right at you and says to us that we must be born from above in order to be transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God.

4Nicodemus 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?"
5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God

Nicodemus is a great teacher of Israel, yet he is so spiritually blind that he cannot understand this basic spiritual truth. But, he is being drawn here to the Savior, and he seeks deeper understanding of what Jesus is talking about. Many religious people are so full of pride that they cannot ask or seek. Nicodemus at least sought a deeper understanding. Jesus used the natural process of birth to help Nicodemus and us understand what being born again means and what it requires. It is like birth, in that it is new life. This new life is a process that is initiated and completed from heaven. The water is used to illustrate spiritual cleansing in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament, the water is the Word of God :

Ephesians 5:26
26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

So the new Birth is the spiritual cleansing accomplished by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God at the moment of salvation.

Titus 3:5
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit

It is not by the works of righteousness that we do, but initiated by His mercy, and the regeneration and renewal-new birth-is accomplished by the Holy Spirit at God’s command. We must understand that we are not saved because we choose God; it is because He chooses us. We are not saved based upon the works that we do, or the kind of good people we are, but it is because of his mercy. We are saved despite who we are. This is why we must be reborn from heaven; for there is nothing good in us. We must be made new.

Nicodemus was a great teacher of Israel, on who was separated by his good works, one who people would measure themselves against. Yet he was not exempt; all of these good works were filthy rags in the eyes of God. Nicodemus needed a Savior, just like the rest of us do. He needed cleansing and rebirth despite the fact he had done all the ritual cleansing, he was ritually pure, and had done many good works that had the purpose of pleasing God. He did not recognize Himself as one who had broken the law and one who had needed God to be his salvation. He, like many in his time and many today, are seeking to be their own salvation based upon a false picture of who God is and who we are. Even if Nicodemus could climb back into the womb a second time and be born again, he would have the same condition, as Jesus tried to clarify with the 6th verse:

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'

Jesus breaks it down for Nicodemus; he was born of the flesh. He was a broken person. Those that are born in the flesh are of the flesh, and everything that goes with it; including a broken nature. There is nothing we can do, even climb back into the womb as it were, to change that fact. Even Nicodemus understood and believed about the resurrection of the dead. Jesus clarified this idea and stated that there are requirements, requirements that cannot be met by natural man. Nicodemus was of the flesh, a natural man. To get into the Kingdom of God, He must be born of the Spirit. Jesus says do not marvel; that is to say that this is a logical progression. One who is simply natural man, of the flesh, cannot see the kingdom of heaven. A human being must be born from above, something that is God-initiated and is a process by which the natural, dirty man is regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit. Just like birth, there is nothing that a man can do to hurry along the process. It happens when it happens. When the birth pangs come, there is the response of the one giving birth, but not until the pangs come. In the spiritual, No man comes to the Son unless the Father draws him. It is nothing that we are able to initiate or desire to initiate in our own flesh. That which is in the flesh is unclean, and corrupt, and temporal. One cannot see the kingdom of God in this condition; it is only by receiving this birth from above by the Holy Spirit that we can be grafted into Christ and see the kingdom of heaven by our very nature and condition being changed. To be Born Again is to pass from all sinfulness to all holiness. We are completely changed, new creations, in Christ.

8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

This is nothing that we can control, or even see. Like the wind, the Spirit moves and we see the results, though the actual Spirit and wind are not visible to the naked eye. We can harness the wind, as we can see by the many windmills in this area. However, we cannot control it. It does what it wants, it goes in the direction it desires, and it makes noise but it is not seen. The process of being born-again is not something that the natural man desires, or seeks out. It is a process that comes from God, unseen, and unexpected, but, when harnessed, has the power to turn filthy sinners into new creations, born completely anew from above. We have no control over what the Spirit will do in us, and to us, for when we die to ourselves and are born from above, our will is changed, in line with God’s. In other words, just as we do not choose our parents, or our gender, or our DNA when we are conceived, we have no control if we are truly born again from above. God takes the lead, he takes the wheel, and we allow Him to drive us where we are going.

9 Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" 10 Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?

Nicodemus still had a lack of understanding. I believe, that deeper than that, Nicodemus was blind and had a heart of unbelief. His whole world had been rocked. Here He was, a poster child for the self righteous Pharisees. Measured against other men, Nicodemus was head and shoulders above in the category of righteousness. He believed that He had done all that God had required of Him. Yet, Jesus taught that He was in the same boat with the rest of humanity. Nicodemus, as Jesus taught, was wretched and wicked and had done nothing Good. This was despite the fact that He was a religious teacher that was not rivaled in Israel, he knew the scripture, and he lived a moral and upstanding life. But he was exposed before Jesus. He was like the rest of us.

This is truly the difficulty many have today in coming to Christ. We believe that we are good enough, and there is much that we have to offer God. Like Nicodemus we hide our pride well, but it is laid bare and exposed before God even though people do not recognize it. People who are not in Christ cannot understand these truths about themselves. Indeed, unless we are humble before God, we will never truly repent, never admit that we are anything less than what we believe that we are, and that is a good person. There are many people who are a part of the Church in America today who have come to Jesus like Nicodemus and have pointed to themselves as good people, and have failed to see the need to humble themselves before God and repent. When we do this, Jesus will turn the tables on us like God did to Job, exposing us for who we are. If we respond as broken and humble individuals, ready to confess and forsake our sin and turn towards Christ, we will be born again. If we refuse, and harden our hearts, we may say we believe in Christ, we may even say we follow Him, but he will not accept us or believe in us if we do not die to ourselves and place our trust in Him.

Have you been born again? Have you died to your self, crying out to God in confession, repentance, and trust unto salvation? In the coming weeks, we will examine the next ten verses of this passage, which will reveal Jesus’ discourse on the true meaning of salvation. The key word is believe; and it is an urgent call to each of us to put aside our belief in ourselves and place it on Jesus Christ alone for our salvation. If you are still trusting in yourself, your religion, your good works to please God, you will be disappointed on that last day. I urge you, if you have not been born again, cry out to God to save you. Do it today, before you leave this place. If today you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. Turn to Him and let Him save you.