I want to ask you a question this morning, and the question is this, why are you a Christian?
! What is the ultimate reason that you are a Christian? That there is faith in your heart?
That you desire to follow the Lord Jesus Christ? Why are you a Christian?
You know, that's easy. Some would say, well, that's easy. That's an easy question to answer.
I heard the message of the gospel. I turned from my sins. I repented. I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I trusted in what he did on the cross, and that is why I am a Christian.
You know, that is true, that these are things that someone who is a Christian has done.
But when a Christian becomes a Christian, there's something else going on.
Something more than what we merely do. Something on the inside.
Not something we do, but something that God does to us and in us.
Something that is unseen. Something that is mysterious. Something that is wonderful.
Something that God does first.
Then we repent. And then we believe.
This chapter, Jesus has a name for this mysterious, secret thing that God does.
That causes us to become Christians.
Jesus calls it being born again.
And as we read this chapter, we'll see that this is very important.
Being born again is indeed a life and death issue.
Jesus teaches here that if a person is born again, he is in God's kingdom.
He's on his way to heaven.
But it also teaches here, if a person is not born again, he is not in God's kingdom.
And is eternally lost.
So follow along as I read our passage of scripture.
This is John chapter 3, verses 1 through 12.
Hear God's word.
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 are a teacher come from God.
For no one can do these signs that you do.
Unless God is with him.
Jesus answered 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 the kingdom of God.
That which is born of flesh is flesh.
And that which is born of spirit is spirit.
Do not marvel that I say to you.
You must be born again.
The wind blows where it wishes.
And you hear it sounds.
But you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
So is everyone who is born of the spirit.
Nicodemus said to him.
How can these things be?
Jesus answered him.
Are you a 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 of heavenly things?
Before we look at this passage.
Let's bow for another word of prayer.
Father, we thank you for these solemn words from the mouth of our Lord Jesus to Nicodemus.
Father, we pray this morning for what you would say to us.
Father, we thank you so much for your Holy Spirit that dwells in our hearts.
We thank you that he authored these words on the hearts of your prophets and apostles.
They've recorded them for us.
Father, we pray for the ministry of the Spirit as we consider your word this morning.
We pray that truth would penetrate our hearts.
Father, this morning I want to pray for every person that is present here.
That you, by the power of your Spirit, would speak to them.
And that truth would penetrate and go deep into all of our hearts.
Do everything in us today that you desire to do.
By your word and by your Spirit.
We thank you for what you will do.
And we pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Now, who is this man who has come to Jesus?
He came at night.
He came solo, alone.
He came for a private interview.
What do we know about this man?
Well, we know several things about him.
From verse 1, we know that he was a ruler of the Jews.
In other words, he was a member of the Sanhedrin.
The Jewish ruling body.
He was an important man.
He was a powerful man in Israel.
In verse 10, Jesus calls him the teacher of Israel.
He was a professional student of the Old Testament.
He was a professional teacher of the Old Testament.
He was an expert in the Old Testament.
He would be the equivalent today of a professor at a theological college or a theological seminary.
We know from John chapter 19, he was probably a wealthy man.
After Jesus' death on the cross, Nicodemus bought very expensive spices to anoint the body of Jesus.
We can see here that he is a respectful man in verse 2.
Jesus had not been to the theological schools, the correct theological schools.
And yet, Nicodemus still gives him a title of respect.
He calls him rabbi, teacher, professor.
And lastly, we learn here that Nicodemus was a Pharisee.
And this is very important to understand his mindset as a Pharisee.
I think this is the key to understanding why Jesus spoke to him in this way, using this metaphor for becoming a Christian.
Being born again.
You remember that a Pharisee was a member of a religious party in Israel.
And the goal of the Pharisees, the thing they gave themselves to, was the keeping of God's law.
That was paramount for a Pharisee to keep the law of God.
Sounds like a good thing.
Right?
But they took a good thing and they did it in a wrong way.
They reduced law keeping to outward external compliance.
To rules.
They just wanted to tick the boxes.
I've done this.
And then I'm right with God.
But they did something else.
They kept God's law.
They kept these external things.
Reading the scripture.
Going to the synagogue.
Praying.
They did those external things.
They did them out of a wrong motivation.
They did them to earn and merit.
If I'm this good.
If I do all these things.
Then God, you'll have to forgive me.
You'll have to bless me.
You'll have to take me to heaven.
So they took a good thing.
Keeping God's law.
And they did it in a wrong way.
They reduced the relationship with God.
Down to just keeping the rules.
Keeping the rules.
Hoping that that would merit them heaven.
Now let's ask this question.
Why did Nicodemus come to Jesus?
Are we told here?
No, we're not.
But it's not hard to figure out.
And I think there are two things here that point to why Nicodemus came to Jesus.
And the first one is this.
Nicodemus realized that Jesus was not a man who could be ignored.
Listen to verse 2.
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 could Nicodemus not ignore Jesus?
The signs.
That's John's word for miracles.
The signs.
Nicodemus had come to an inescapable conclusion.
If this man performed miracles.
Therefore, he was from God.
And if he was from God.
Therefore, what he said was true.
Nicodemus realized.
This is not a man that I can ignore.
Nicodemus realized.
I cannot ignore what this man has to say.
Because what he has to say is from God.
It is God's message.
And I want to tell us today.
Jesus is not someone that you and I can ignore.
If Jesus healed the sick.
If he gave sight to the blind.
If he caused the death to hear.
If he healed the lepers.
If he calmed the storm.
If he raised the dead.
And he did.
Then Jesus is not someone that.
You and I can ignore.
And we're faced with that same inescapable conclusion.
If he did these things.
We cannot ignore this man.
And when this man speaks.
This is God.
Speaking.
To us.
So why did Nicodemus come to Jesus?
First reason.
Jesus was not a man that he could ignore.
But I believe there's another reason that Nicodemus came to Jesus.
And that is.
I believe he had a question for Jesus.
What was that question?
Do you read it here?
Did you hear it here as we read the verse?
No.
You didn't.
There's no record of a question here that he asked.
But Jesus does a very interesting thing here.
And Jesus began to ask.
Began to answer.
Nicodemus's unasked question.
Did Jesus know why Nicodemus had come?
Of course he knew why Nicodemus had come.
Did he know the question on his heart?
Did he know what Nicodemus wanted to know?
Of course he knew.
So what does Jesus do?
He starts right in to answer the unasked question on Nicodemus's heart.
And what did Nicodemus want to know about?
What does Jesus start talking about here?
And verse 3.
How a person sees God's kingdom.
Verse 5.
How a person enters God's kingdom.
What was his question?
The kingdom of God.
How does a person get into it?
Or saying it in a different way.
How does a person become a Christian?
I believe that was his question.
But what was Jesus' answer?
Look at verse 3.
Jesus answered.
Truly, truly, I say to you.
Unless one is born again.
He cannot see the kingdom of God.
Verse 7.
Do not marvel that I say to you.
You must be born again.
If you want to get into God's kingdom, you need this experience.
You need the experience of being born again.
Now, is that what Nicodemus expected?
I don't think so.
I think this was a huge surprise to him.
I think this was very puzzling to him.
I think he never expected Jesus to answer like this.
What did Nicodemus expect Jesus to say?
How do you get into God's kingdom?
You do the right things.
You keep the law.
You be a God person.
You be a good person.
You do the things you should do.
If you're good, you're in.
If you're bad, you're out.
In other words, Nicodemus expected Jesus to say,
You get into God's kingdom by something you do.
But what did Jesus say?
He said it's not something that you do.
It's something that God does to you.
You get into God's kingdom by something God does.
He causes you to be born again.
A radical new beginning done to you.
Now, why did Jesus talk about salvation in this way to this man?
Is there any other place in the Gospels where Jesus talks about salvation in terms about you being born again?
I don't know of it.
But Jesus used this metaphor with this man to talk about how a person gets into God's kingdom.
Why did Jesus do that with this man?
I believe it is to destroy his false thinking.
To destroy his false concept.
In a way, Jesus is saying to him here,
It's not about what you do that's going to get you into God's kingdom.
It's not about you being Jewish.
That's not good enough.
It's not about you being religious.
That's not enough.
It's not about your law keeping.
That's not enough.
It's not about knowing the Bible and knowing theology.
That's not enough.
Summing up,
Nicodemus, all that you have done to this point,
is not enough.
It's not about what you do.
It's about something done to you.
To get into God's kingdom,
you need something else.
You need another birth.
You need a second birth.
You need to be born again.
What does that mean to be born again?
I think there are three things here.
Let me point out to you.
First of all,
this birth is again.
This is beyond a physical birth.
This is another beginning.
Another radical new beginning.
This birth is again.
It is a second birth.
The next thing I want us to see is this birth is a heavenly birth.
It says here,
Jesus says you must be born again.
Could be translated,
born from above.
In other words,
Jesus could be saying right here,
you need a heavenly birth.
You need heaven to reach down and touch you
and change your heart.
You need the life of heaven placed in your heart.
This is a heavenly birth.
So it is being,
it is another birth.
It's being born again.
It is a heavenly birth.
But there's a third thing.
And I think this is really important to understanding what it means to be born again.
This birth is a spiritual birth.
What causes this birth?
What is the agent of this birth?
Listen to verse five.
Truly,
truly,
I say to you,
unless one is born of water and the spirit,
he cannot mend the kingdom of God.
Verse six,
that which is born of flesh and flesh,
and that which is born of spirit is spirit.
Verse eight,
so it is with everyone who is born of the spirit.
Three times,
what causes this birth?
What is the agent of this birth in the heart of a person?
It is the Holy Spirit.
Third person of the Trinity.
The one who is God and yet who is distinct from the Father and the Son.
He is the agent of this birth.
Now,
let me show you something very interesting here.
Look again at verse five and listen to it.
Truly,
truly,
I say to you,
unless one is born of the spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Is that what it says there?
No.
It says,
unless one is born of water and the spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
So,
the question is,
what does water have to do with this experience of becoming a Christian?
What does water have to do with this experience of being born again?
Is this a reference to baptism?
I don't think so.
I think that's unlikely.
There was no such thing as Christian baptism at this time.
So,
what in the world does Jesus mean by being born by water of water?
I'll tell you what I think.
I think the word Jesus using the word water with Nicodemus here connects this experience with something in the Old Testament.
Remember,
remember,
it wasn't Nicodemus' job.
He's a theological professor.
He's an expert in the Old Testament.
And surely he would know that famous passage in the Old Testament.
All they read it to us this morning from Ezekiel 36.
Where there's a prophecy about being born again by water.
And listen to it.
This is Ezekiel chapter 36,
verses 25 to 27.
I will sprinkle clean water on you.
And you will be clean from all your uncleanness.
And from all your idols I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heart.
And a new spirit I will put within you.
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.
What do we see in Ezekiel 36?
We see the same three things that we saw in John chapter 3.
We saw water.
I will sprinkle clean water on you.
We saw the spirit.
I will put my spirit in you.
We saw a new birth.
I will give you a new heart.
I believe these two passages,
Ezekiel chapter 36 and John chapter 3,
they're talking about the same thing.
The Holy Spirit,
the water of the Spirit,
being sprinkled upon a heart.
And being born again by water of the Spirit.
It's the same thing.
What's Jesus saying to Nicodemus?
He's saying,
No, when I tell you you need to be born again,
I'm not coming up with something new.
I'm telling you what was prophesied in the Old Testament.
For God's people in the Old Testament,
in the time of Ezekiel,
it was yet future.
But what is Jesus saying to Nicodemus?
He's saying what was prophesied in Ezekiel,
what we get future then,
now,
is here.
With my coming,
my death,
my burial,
my resurrection,
my ascension,
now,
God's people can be born again.
And now,
Nicodemus,
this
is what you need.
It's interesting,
water is the Old Testament image
for the Holy Spirit.
But you know,
there's another image in the Old Testament
for the Holy Spirit.
Wind
or breath.
It's very interesting,
we just read from Ezekiel 36,
but in the very next chapter,
Ezekiel 37,
there's another famous passage
about a valley of dry bones.
And God tells Ezekiel to prophesy
and to speak to these bones
that are dead and dry.
and says,
blow,
wind,
blow,
breath,
the breath of God,
the breath of God's Spirit.
And he speaks to these bones
and they become alive.
Another Old Testament image
of the same thing.
Another Old Testament image
of the Spirit
giving life.
Now,
what is really interesting here,
that same second Old Testament image
is in John chapter 3.
This birth,
this being born again,
is by the wind of God's Spirit.
Listen to verse 8.
Back in John chapter 3,
the wind blows where it wishes,
you hear its sound,
but you do not know
where it comes from,
where it goes.
So is everyone
who is born of the Spirit.
When Jesus says
that this birth
is by wind,
the wind of the Holy Spirit,
what is he emphasizing?
About being born again.
He's emphasizing
it's something mysterious.
It's something unpredictable.
It's something uncontrollable.
Can you control the wind?
No.
Can you control the Holy Spirit?
No.
Can you make a person,
another person a Christian?
Can you argue them
into the kingdom?
You cannot make another person
a Christian
because you cannot control
the Holy Spirit.
Can you make yourself
a Christian?
Well, you say,
that's easy.
Yes, I can do that.
All I have to do is
repent and believe.
But the question is,
can you really
do that
on your own,
unassisted
by the Holy Spirit?
Listen to Paul
in Ephesians chapter 2.
This is what he said
to the Ephesians,
verse 5.
This is pre-conversion.
Pre-Christian,
he said,
you were
dead.
But now,
you've been made alive.
Verse 6,
Ephesians chapter 2,
he says,
you have been
raised.
Paul is saying
here in Ephesians chapter 2
that becoming a Christian
is a resurrection
from the dead.
Paul's implication
here in Ephesians chapter 2
is you cannot
make yourself
a Christian
because pre-conversion,
pre-Christian,
you were dead
spiritually.
And the point is this,
the new birth
is not something
that you do
because you were dead.
It is something
that God
does to you.
You know,
this new birth,
this spiritual birth,
is like physical birth
in this respect.
What part
did you have
in your physical birth?
Do you remember
back then?
Do you remember it?
Do you remember,
well,
I'm on the inside here
and I think it's time
to come out?
Did you do that?
Did you think that?
No.
What part
did you have
in your physical birth?
You didn't have any.
You were passive.
And so it is
with this birth
that Jesus is describing
here.
It's not something
that you do.
It's something
that is done
to you.
You say,
well,
in my spiritual birth,
I repented,
I believed,
I trusted in Jesus.
That's true.
But why did you do it?
It's because God
did something first.
He sprinkled the water
of the Holy Spirit
on you.
He caused the wind
and breath
of the Holy Spirit
to blow upon your heart
and gave you
new life.
Then,
you repented
and you believed.
You know,
I believe the order
here is important.
Look at the order
here in verse 3.
Jesus answered him,
Truly,
truly,
I say to you,
unless one is born again,
he cannot see
the kingdom of God.
Do you see
the order here?
What comes first?
The new birth.
Then a person
sees spiritually.
Then he understands.
Then he believes.
Summing it all up,
I believe that we're taught here,
John chapter 3,
that in salvation,
God does it all.
Did you realize
our salvation is trinitarian?
God does it.
The Father
sends the Son.
The Son
dies on the cross
for God's people
and in the Spirit.
He blows upon our hearts.
He's poured out
on our hearts.
He gives us new hearts.
Then we repent
and we believe.
Now,
why preach about this?
Why teach about it?
Does this make any difference
in the way we live?
Or is this just some
obscure theological point
that Presbyterians
are hung up on?
I want to tell you,
I believe this is
very practical
to believe
that we are Christians
not because of
what we've done,
but because of
what God has done.
Very quickly,
let me give you
six reasons
why I believe
this is important.
If you believe
that God does it all,
number one,
this gives
God the glory
in our salvation.
You know,
what do we want to say?
I'll tell you
what my fallen nature
wants to say.
I want to say,
God,
you did most of it.
You sent your Son.
Jesus,
you died for me,
but hey,
I did a little of it.
God,
you did your part,
but you know,
I have my part to do too.
I turned from my sin.
I saw the errors
in my way.
I turned from my sin
and I believed
and trusted in Jesus.
But you know,
to believe that God
does it all,
what does it do?
It gives Him
all the glory.
If you are a Christian
and you realize
God has done it all,
the only thing
that you can do,
what,
is look up
into God's face
and say,
you have done it all.
You get all the glory.
What is the reason
for our salvation anyway?
What is it ultimately
all about?
It's about
this great God
glorifying Himself.
Second reason
this is important.
Second reason
this is so practical.
If you believe
that God does it all
in salvation,
this is the basis
of our assurance.
This is why
we can feel safe
and secure as Christians.
How do we know
that one day
God will not say,
well,
you just sinned too much.
I'm just not going to
put up with you
any longer.
You just sinned
too many bad things.
You're out of here.
I'm forgetting you.
You know,
here's the point.
If you did not
become a Christian
because of what you did,
neither will you lose it
because of what you do.
By your failure
to do good things
or by doing
too many bad things.
You see,
when we believe
that it's a joint effort,
God and us,
there's always
an element of uncertainty.
Is it safe?
Is it secure?
But if the reason
for our salvation
is in God alone,
it's eternally
safe and secure
and we can have peace
and assurance
in our hearts.
Third reason
why I believe
this is so experienced
is this makes us humble.
If we believe
that God does it all,
it makes us humble
before God.
It destroys
our boasting.
It destroys
our pride
of religious achievement.
But you know something?
It also makes us
humble
toward
other people.
You know something?
I think we've lost
our testing,
testing.
The stamp,
this mic right here.
Okay.
You know,
to believe
that God
does it all,
it makes us
humble
toward other people.
You know what I find
in my own heart?
It's so easy
to feel superior
to other people.
Particularly
to feel superior
to non-Christians.
You know,
I look at non-Christians,
I look at their
destructive ways
in their lives
and I think
it's so easy to feel
if you were as smart
as me,
you'd be a Christian.
If you were as good
as me,
you'd be a Christian.
If you were as
spiritual me,
you would be a Christian.
But if the only reason
that you and I
are Christians
is because of what
God has done,
we cannot feel
superior
to anyone
on the face
of the earth.
So this destroys
our pride
before God.
This destroys
our pride
in the face
of other people.
It keeps us
from that feeling
of superiority
applied to our hearts.
It makes us humble.
poor thing,
if we believe
that God does it all,
it enables us
to love other people.
Guess what?
You cannot love
and help
another person
if you feel
superior to them.
It's a wall.
They can sense it.
We need to cut
to help other people.
We need to come
alongside them
as fellow sinners
who found
the grace of God.
This truth
applied to our hearts
that God does it all.
It enables us
to love other people.
Fifth thing,
this gives us hope
for everyone.
You know,
throughout my Christian life,
I found myself
playing this little game
in my mind.
You know,
I look at non-Christians
and I divide them
into two groups.
The first group
is those
who are likely
to convert
and to become Christians.
Christians.
And the last group
is those
who would never
become Christians.
Their hearts
are just too hard.
They're just so confirmed
in their unbelief.
They just believe
so many lies
and errors.
So I put people
in these two groups
and I give up
on one group
because I think
they're unlikely
to be saved.
This is wrong.
This gives us hope
for everyone.
In the new birth,
what does God do?
He takes
a hard heart,
a heart of stone,
and he makes it
into a heart of flesh.
That is God's
speciality
in regeneration.
So there's hope
for everyone.
And the last thing
that this does for us,
this gives us confidence
in prayer
and evangelism.
Confidence to pray
for everyone.
Even that person
that you don't think
is likely
to become a Christian.
That person you think
their heart is too hard.
This gives us confidence
to pray for them
and to share
the gospel with them.
The Bible teaches
in salvation,
Jesus told Nicodemus,
you must be born again.
This is something
that God does.
God does it all
in salvation.
It's a wonderful truth.
It brings us peace.
It brings us assurance.
It makes us humble.
One last question
I want to address.
You may be saying,
well,
I'm not a Christian.
Yeah.
Or you may be saying,
I'm not sure
that I'm a Christian.
If God does it all
in salvation,
what can I do?
There is nothing
I can do.
I just have to
sit around and wait.
Maybe he'll do it.
Maybe he won't.
Is that the view
of the Bible?
No.
Let me tell you,
the appeal of the Bible,
the invitation of the Bible,
the command of the Bible
is threefold.
If you're not a Christian,
it is come.
Jesus said in Matthew 11,
come unto me,
all you that are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
The command of the Bible
is seek,
Isaiah 55,
seek the Lord
while he may be found.
The command of the Bible
is call.
Again,
in Isaiah 55,
call upon him
while he is near.
And then Paul,
in Romans 11,
he's quoting
the Old Testament
prophet Joel,
everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord
will be saved.
Yes,
God does it all
in salvation,
but if you're not
a Christian,
what does he command
you to do?
What does he invite
you to do?
What does he appeal
to you to do?
To come,
to seek,
to call upon him.
Not to be passive.
And when you seek him,
and when you call upon him,
and when you come to him,
what do you say?
The very same things
we talked about this morning.
I cannot do it.
I cannot save myself.
I cannot make myself
a Christian.
I cannot die for my sins.
I cannot be good enough.
I cannot even repent
and believe.
You must do for me
what I cannot do
for myself.
And when a person
does that,
what happens?
God causes him
to be born again.
Let's pray.