Living for Eternity
The Mystery of the New Birth
John 3:1-10
Turn to John 1. I have stated a few times about the theology within the Gospel of John. It is interesting that if someone asked us the simplest book for an unbeliever or a new believer to read, it would be the Gospel of John. And this is true as John is simple in the fact that he repeats a lot in his writing. And his stories are simple in the fact that he will focus on a simple dialogue back and forth between two people. Example, Jesus and Nicodemus, Jesus and the woman at the well. And the simple message of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world.” And John’s writing style is also very simple. But what cannot be overlooked in all this is the depth of John’s thinking, as he expresses incredible trues about Christ, and writes with such a fascination about Christ. The verse we focused on last Sunday:
“For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.”
John 1:16 (LSB)
None of the other gospels give such depth, as they more focus on the storyline, whereas John often writes with such amazement. I don’t want you to miss this. It would like the difference between reading a book that relates the history of an event, as opposed to a book that gives some history, but also pauses to focus on a special encounter or pauses to say, “Wow! That’s incredible!” And this is where we find ourselves again this morning, as John is going to tell us about a particular encounter with Christ, that no one tells us about. In other words, if it was not for John, we would never know about a man named Nicodemus. And there is much mystery in this story. And this is a story we looked at on a Sunday evening a while ago while looking at the gospel. So, some of this will be a review for those folks. But I also trust I have added some thoughts here since studying this passage some more. So let’s pray. Lord, Your Word has such depth. Might we not be satisfied for others to study and understand. But help us to use the minds which You have given us to better know Your Word and to better know You. This morning we will be confronted with Your bigness, the mystery of the gospel and Your plan of salvation. So, help us, for we ask this in the name of Christ, amen. Now it is interesting that just prior to the story we will study, we see a little of exactly what we have been talking about.
“Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, when they saw His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men.”
John 2:23-24 (LSB)
Alistair Begg comments here:…
“John has described some who believed in Jesus … [but] there was a kind of superficial belief … Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them.”
Alistair Begg
So, John presents some more tension in his gospel, as there were those whom he states believed in Jesus, yet did not give themselves entirely over to Christ, and Jesus did not entrust Himself to them. And this story is going to help us answer the question, “Is there a difference between real faith and superficial faith of John 2:23-24?” Let’s look at this conversation. So turn to John 3:1-10:
“Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ 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?’ 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. That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.” The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.’ Nicodemus answered and said to Him, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?’”
John 3:1-10 (LSB)
Now understand that in John’s Gospel, John has just recorded for us the miracle of the “water into wine” and the story of the “cleansing of the temple.” And in the “water into wine” we get this, as we sort of get excited when we see Jesus do a miracle. And in the story of the cleansing of the temple, we again relate to this as we see Jesus taking charge and going against the evildoers. That’s easy. A miracle, wow Lord! Driving out the money-changers. Go get them Lord! These stories can attract us to the plan and purpose of Christ. I mean who doesn’t watch the Ten Commandments and cheer Charlton Heston on when he goes up against Ramses? Lord, we are with You. But then as we turn the page to chapter 3 here in John, where we find a conversation that can be a little unsettling. Because it strips us of something. For it confronts us with the fact that we are not really on God’s side. For it confronts us with our own depravity outside a work of God in our lives. To think that God would view me this way. That God would look at us and say that you have a major problem. And it is not that I have to do some work on you. It is worse than that. For you must be reborn, you must be made entirely new, which is called the new birth. And the new birth is not something that we do but is something that is done to us. John 1:13:
“[W]ho were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
John 1:13 (LSB)
The Apostle Peter also understood this:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again.”
- Pet 1:3 (LSB)
This is not about tweaking my current life. No, it is about getting a new birth, a new life. We must understand that when Adam sinned in the Garden, all men and women were forever condemned. God is not salvaging what is left over or what might be a little better then the rest. No, God’s plan demands a complete new creation. “If anyone is in Christ, [he is fixed up, no] he is a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17)
See, I can read the story of the water into wine and cheer Jesus on as He does a miraculous event in front of others. Yet the new birth demands that Jesus needs to do the miraculous on me. Because it is not the improvement of my old human nature, but it is a creation of a new human nature. It is understanding that until I am born again, I may only be one of the ones who believes at the end of John 2. Yet it is only a superficial belief. Until I am born again, I am viewed by Christ, no differently than He viewed those in the temple, who outwardly looked religious and sort of nice on the outside, but inwardly dead and unclean. So, let’s take a closer look at this conversation.
“Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.’”
John 3:1-2 (LSB)
Again, understand where this story falls. Right after the warning of those who had a superficial belief, and then a man named Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night. Now we do not really know why Nicodemus came by night. Many have suggested it was because he was afraid to be seen with Jesus. Whatever the reason Alfred Edersheim notes:
“It must have been a mighty power of conviction, to break down prejudice so far as to lead this old Sanhedrist to acknowledge a Galilean [Jesus], untrained in the Schools as a Teacher come from God, and to [come] to Him for direction on, perhaps, the most delicate and important point in Jewish theology.”
Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah: Volume 1 381
And here we have Nicodemus who is a very knowledgeable teacher, and he gives his introductory words. But immediately Jesus recognizes that Nicodemus does not understand. It is interesting that the Lord has given man the ability to learn and invent and discover. Much insight has been given to the human mind. Yet, because of sin, man’s spiritual understanding is described as dead.
And Nicodemus could be someone today that we might meet. Whom we would describe as nice, maybe religious, and they are not really opposed to our Christianity. For this is not the adulterous woman, or the woman at the well, or Zacchaeus who stole from people. This is a respected gentleman. And if we are not careful, this is where our theology can get a little wobbly, as we can start to think that if there is anyone who could escape the judgment of God, it must be someone like Nicodemus. As the evil descriptions given of all men and women in the Bible could not be applied to him. But this is where our theology must step in. That the Bible teaches that men and women without Christ are without hope. And that they remain in their sin, and therefore they will someday stand accountable before God unforgiven and therefore eternally condemned. Folks, our theology must teach us that all men and women stand condemned before God. Even what we might describe as the nice, all are lost without Christ. Paul wrote:
“And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
Eph 2:1-3 (LSB)
This is the description of everyone born into the world. And this is what is known in the Bible as total depravity. Millard Erickson says that sin is a matter of the entire person, as it affects the mind, the emotions, and the will. We are greatly motivated by improper motives. And if I do not accept total depravity like the Scriptures teach where may this lead me? God becomes very unfair because people go to hell. God begins to owe man something. Salvation to save becomes an obligation of God because of our goodness, rather than the grace of God because of our sinfulness. So, it is good that such a good man like Nicodemus came to Jesus. Because it teaches us that all people need to be born again. For you might attend church every Sunday, but you still need to be born again. You may be generous and a good parent, but you are still an enemy of God. So as nice as Nicodemus might appear, he is not really in need of any more information. He needs something to drastically change in his life. So, we are going to see how Jesus responds to him.
“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’”
John 3:3 (LSB)
Interesting here that Jesus mentions here of the “kingdom of God,” which is really a major theme of the Bible. For this all started back in the beginning when God created the world, and He placed man in the Garden and gave them the command to rule. Well, it all fell apart as man sinned, and from that time on “sin and death” have ruled. But God gave a promise that he would someday destroy the works of Satan. And we see this in Revelation 20, “And [Satan] … was thrown into the lake of fire … and … will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” I hope that if I teach you anything here at Elim, it is the “big picture” of the Bible. Because this promise of the kingdom runs from Genesis to Revelation to the present day. And it has been determined by God and God will accomplish what He has said. And everything that happens in the Old Testament and New Testament is God knocking down every barrier to His plan. In fact, the barriers are part of His plan. Satan is part of His plan. Evil kings and nations are part of His plan. Yet all unknowingly work towards fulfilling all that God has decreed! And so what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus in regard to His plan is that the only possibility of entering the kingdom of God that one must be born again. Then Nicodemus asks another question.
“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?’ 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. That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.” The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.’ Nicodemus answered and said to Him, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?’”
John 3:4-8 (LSB)
What Jesus is simply saying is that the entrance into the kingdom of God requires that Nicodemus be cleansed. And it requires the renewing of his heart by the Holy Spirit, for it is a work of God. Nicodemus would have been very familiar with the reference to the water, knowing Ezekiel 36:
“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and from all your idols. 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. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to do My judgments.”
Ezek 36:25-27 (LSB)
Nicodemus would have been able to quote this Old Testament passage. He just did not know that it so personally applied to himself. It is simply this: the experience of cleansing from the old life was symbolized by water and the regenerating power of the Spirit was symbolized by wind. So, Jesus has stated that a man first must be cleansed, the reference to water. And that he also needs to be born of the Spirit, the reference to the wind.
“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”
John 3:8 (LSB)
We see the evidence of the wind. But where did it start from? This is how Jesus explains the mysterious nature of being born again. This is not trying to convince someone to have an intellectual knowledge of Jesus. Alistair Begg stated:
“We’re talking about a radical, God-ordained, eye-opening, heart-changing encounter with Jesus.”
Alistair Begg
In other words, what he is saying here is that if we do not understand conversion as a miraculous encounter with the living God, but only some kind of human decision to accept Jesus without a supernatural experience and a changed life, we are completely missing the gospel. 1 John 5:11:
“And the witness is this, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.”
- John 5:11 (LSB)
The life we get in the new birth from the Spirit, we receive because the Spirit unites us to the Son of God who is life, because John has already said in John 1:4 that “in Him” in Christ was life. See, this is the greatest of miracles! 1 John 5:1:
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.”
- John 5:1a (LSB)
In other words, if we have been born of God, we believe. Don’t get these backward. We do not believe, so that we are born of God. No, we must be born of God, so that we believe. For, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God” When the Holy Spirit creates new spiritual life in us, the immediate effect is that we then desire Christ, we love Christ, and we believe in Christ, as (John 6:63), it is the Spirit who gives life. This is what happens to us when we are born again, though we do not know any of this theology. Yet this is the beauty of the Scriptures. That as John begins to explain, and Paul and Peter explain in their letters, we learn and are able to say, “Wow, this happened to me and I believed!” So thankful that John explains some of this to us.
“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”
John 3:8 (LSB)
This is an understanding of the work of the wind. “The wind [πνεῦμα (pneuma)] blows where it wishes.” Some of your Bibles will say “Where it wills.” In other words, the wind has a mind of its own. You cannot make the wind go anywhere. It comes from any direction, and it can be calm and it can be crazy. Interestingly the Greek word for Spirit and wind are the same, pneuma. And John’s main point is that the new birth is directly in relation to the will of the Spirit, not our will.
“And you hear its sound.” Or we could also say we see the effects of the wind. We hear the sound, the rustling of the leaves, the blowing of the dust, the feeling of the wind on our faces. In other words, we do not “see” the wind, but the “effects” of the wind are seen in what it does. And the parallel is that we can’t see the Spirit. But we can see the effects of the Holy Spirit and we can experience the effects of the Holy Spirit.
“But [you] do not know where it comes from.” We have no control over it. For listen to John’s words, you “do not know,” emphasizing such a mystery here. When God does this miracle of someone being born again, there is a sense that we cannot figure out how God did this. Similar to what Nicodemus says in verse 9, “How can these things be?” In other words, how did a person go from being dead spiritually to being alive spiritually? There is a great deal of mystery to this. Whether you claim to be a Calvinist or an Arminian, both must agree that this is unexplainable. Mark 4:26-27:
“And He was saying, ‘The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he sleeps and rises, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how he himself does not know.’”
Mark 4:26-27 (LSB)
A picture of someone sowing the seed of the Word of God. And that it sprouts and comes alive, the man does not know how. When the Holy Spirit moves in lives, the Word of God is life-giving. We do not know how. “[You do not know] where it is going.” We cannot determine where it came from, and we also cannot know or have any control over where it goes. And then He goes on to say (vs 8), “So is everyone who has been born of the Spirit [pneuma].” So [or in the same way] this is how people are born again. The Spirit, like the wind, does as He wills. So what verse 8 is teaching us, is that we don’t cause the Spirit to bring about the new birth any more than we make the wind blow. This teaches us, as John Piper says, that the “Decisive act of will in the new birth is not ours. The Spirit’s will is decisive.” If we had to answer the question, “What is the cause of someone being born again?” The will of the Spirit.
Now understand that we are not immobile or unconscious in all this. For something changes within us. Just as we sense the wind. We know that a transformation has taken place. At the moment of that new birth our will moves. The Spirit does not force us against our wills The Holy Spirit of God conforms or changes our wills. We are not motionless during this new birth, we are kicking and screaming just as when a baby is born. For we see, we hear, our fingers are moving, our head is moving, we feel the effects of the wind, the effects of the Spirit
And when the Spirit causes us to be born again, we are then attracted to Christ. Our resistance is broken and we freely come to Him and receive Him and believe in Him. This is what I mean by He changes our wills, this is not a decision that we make that goes against our wills. And in a mysterious way, it is a real decision, for He changes us. Therefore Christian, do not ever think that you were smarter, or to think that this was your will that caused this change. Because it was not, it was the will and work of the spirit. Never steal from God the glory for something only He could do. All of us at one time were dead spiritually, we all resisted the work of the Spirit. Until the time when God opened up our eyes. Before that time, we were in bondage. lost, without hope, dead.
When I was in public school, we lived in Stoney Creek and attended Stanley Ave Baptist in Hamilton. And a man by the name of John Baird attended church along with his wife. She was a believer and he was not, which he made clear. But loved her and attended church with her. After we had moved and now living in Chatham, we received a call from my brother who was still in Hamilton, talking to my Dad, and said, “Guess who went forward in church this morning? John Baird, who was probably close to 80. John Baird resisted God all his life. Until the time when God opened up his eyes, up until then he was enslaved, with chains of darkness, dead. Yet God caused him to be born again. Lord, we praise You this morning for the power of Your Spirit. That, when someone receives Christ, all glory and praise belong to You, for salvation, is a work of God. And may we be careful to never forget and always be grateful for what You have done in the lives for us who know You. For we ask this in the name of Christ, amen.
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44a). “And He was saying, ‘For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father’” (John 6:65). Maybe we should ask the same question we asked before, “What is the cause of someone being born again?” The will of the Spirit. Now I know some would teach, and good Bible-believing people, that God can nudge me, convict me, but ultimately it is the sinner who makes the decision. But I don’t see that in the Bible. And I know this is a mystery.
So, what do we do? Maybe you are thinking of loved ones this morning. Someone you know at work that your heart longs to be saved, maybe a spouse. What do we do? We must submit to the will of the Spirit and allow Him to do what He wills. But also to plead with Him to act. Because somehow in this mystery, God responds to those who humbly plead with Him, not demand, but plead. As Paul told young Timothy, that they might come to their senses and believe. And maybe you are sitting here this morning, and you know in the depth of your heart you do not believe. Plead with Christ to change Your heart, so that you might be born again. Lord, would You work among us, Your people today? We plead with You on behalf of those outside of Christ.
“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”
And all God’s people said … amen.