Being born again

John 3:1-16

¹Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. ²He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

³In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

⁴"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

⁵Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. ⁶Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' ⁸The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

⁹"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? ¹¹I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. ¹²I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. ¹⁴Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

(Message)

Nicodemus was one of Pharisees. This means he was a religious leader. Also he was a member of the Jewish ruling council. Therefore, he was a political leader. That is, Nicodemus was a very successful man. He was successful enough to be an idol of young generation in the society. Even though he was extremely successful, he was incomplete. So he came to Jesus to get help. He came to Jesus at night to avoid the attention of the crowd because of his high position in the society. He confessed that Jesus is a teach who has come from God, based on his observation on miraculous signs that Jesus performed. What is the reply of Jesus? See v3.

³In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

Nicodemus was not spiritually reborn. As a result, he was in fact spiritually blind. Therefore he can see miracles Jesus performed but he couldn’t see the kingdom of God. What he knows about Jesus was his reasoning from what he hears and sees using his physical ears and eyes, but he was spiritually ignorant.

What was the response of Nicodemus? See v4.

⁴"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

He thought born again means physically being born again. So he couldn’t understand how it could happen. We can see Nicodemus was spiritually ignorant. We can learn academic achievement does not entail spiritual enlightenment. How does Jesus help Nicodemus? See v5-8.

⁵Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. ⁶Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' ⁸The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

Here being born of water means ‘repentance of sin’. This emphasizes the human action of repentance. Sin includes any attitude or tendency that makes us away from God or church of God or work of God. Repentance means 180 degree turning away from sin and setting the direction of life toward God. Here, the water is originated from Baptist John’s water baptism, which is baptism of repentance. Baptism was performed in the river. By sinking in the water, it is declared that my sinful body is dead and my sinful life has ended. By coming out of the water, it is declared that brand new life in God has started.

Being born of the Spirit means ‘forgiveness of sin’. This emphasizes the help of God’s power to burn off the sin. Holy Spirit can burn our sin away.

Jesus explained the Spirit using example of the wind. We can’t see the wind but we can tell the existence and work of the wind based on movement of leaves. Likewise, we can tell the existence and work of the Spirit based on changes made by the Spirit.

What is response of Nicodemus? See v9.

⁹"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.

Nicodemus was still ignorant. Now, Jesus rebuked Nicodemus.

¹⁰"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? ¹¹I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. ¹²I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? (10-12)

Now Jesus predicts his death on the cross.  See v13-15.

¹³No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. ¹⁴Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

The story regarding to v14 is written at Numbers 21:4-9. Israelites were impatient and complained, so God sent venomous snakes and many of them died by the snakes. When people repented and Moses prayed, God let Moses make bronze snake and put up on a pole so that anyone bitten can look it up and live. Here the bronze snake represents Jesus on the cross. This story gives us lessons. First of all, we learn complaint is serous sin. Secondly, we learn how to survive by looking at Jesus when we have deadly problem while we will not survive if we look at our problems and struggle by ourselves.

See v16.

¹⁶"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16 is the key verse of the entire Bible.  This is love story of the creator. All we need is God’s love.

When I was a teenager, I met Jesus, I felt his love, and I was so happy. So I know what I really need is love of God. Then, the Holy Spirit revealed my sinfulness and selfishness. I felt the hurts of others by my selfishness and sinfulness. I cried many days and hated & blamed myself.  I totally repented and I was so moved by the love Jesus had on the cross to forgive my sin. And I totally surrendered to the Lord Jesus. I know it is all about love. Jesus is real. I pray that all of you here may repent your sins with tears, open your heart, receive Jesus, and let the Holy Spirit burn your sins away.

I share a great illustration of John 3:16 I found in [2]:

REFERENCES

[1] The Holy Bible: New International Version (Anglicised Edition, 2011). (2011). (Revised and updated edition.). London: Hodder & Stoughton.

[2] Hughes, R. K. (1999). John: that you may believe (p. 86). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books