(Am I Saved?) 1- Born Again — Michael Pearl

Nicodemus and the Necessity of the New Birth

Alright, John chapter 3. In Jesus' time there was a very religious man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a man who believed the Bible from beginning to end. Nicodemus believed everything that was in it. And Nicodemus had committed himself to doing what was in the Bible.

Nicodemus wanted to obey God. He was a very religious man. And so Nicodemus was known for his religion, known for his holiness, goodness. There was one thing Nicodemus was missing. Nicodemus had only been born once.

It wasn't enough. Nicodemus had only been born once. It wasn't enough. How many times have you been born? Just once? I hope you've been born more than that. I've been born twice. You say, I pity your mother.

I've been born twice. Nicodemus heard Jesus talking. And he said some very fascinating things. He said, I'm the life. He said, I'm the way. He said, no man comes unto the Father but by me. And then Nicodemus saw Jesus performing some miracles.

Nicodemus saw Jesus heal a blind man. Saw him cause a lame man to walk. Saw him take away leprosy. So Nicodemus was highly impressed with Jesus' miracles. And he wanted to talk to Jesus. But he had a problem.

His fellow religious brothers didn't believe on Jesus. And they would ridicule him if he came to Christ publicly and asked questions. So Nicodemus decided he would go to Jesus at night time. When it was dark.

After all the crowd had gone home. So he was careful to note where Jesus was staying. And at night time he put a little hood on so no one could see him. And he slipped down to where Jesus was. And asked for an audience.

And when he came up to Jesus, he said in chapter 3, verse 2. He said, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God. For no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him. So Nicodemus acknowledged to Jesus right away that he was from God.

And that didn't mean that he acknowledged that he was God. But simply that somehow God was behind these miracles. Here's Jesus' response. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Now, Nicodemus had just flattered Jesus. He just acknowledged his greatness. He said, we know you're come from God. Well, now, most people have been kind of thrown off by that. And they'd have backed up, shuffled their feet, grinned a little bit, you know.

And said, oh, you know, it's okay. Just give God the glory, don't give me the glory. But instead, Jesus looks right at Nicodemus. And he says to him, Nicodemus, you've got to be born again. If you don't get born again, you won't see God's kingdom.

Now, Nicodemus immediately thought, well, I weigh 178 pounds. I'm 5 '9". My little old mother's not that big. How could I be born a second time? I don't know if my mother would want to go along with that or not.

And so here's what he says. Nicodemus said, how can a man be born when he's old, can he end a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Nicodemus was serious. He wouldn't be this smart. After all, what Jesus said was pretty way out.

You've got to be born again. And he thought, can I go back into my mother's womb and come back out again? Jesus said to him, verily I say unto you, accept a man. Be born of water. That was that physical birth that Nicodemus had.

Born of Water and of the Spirit

And of the Spirit. That's the birth Jesus is talking about. He cannot enter the kingdom of God. Now, some silly people think that being born of the water is water baptism. In the first place, no one's ever born and comes out of the water.

Nothing about coming out of water makes you born. Jesus would have been changing the subject if he would introduce water baptism here. And the word baptism doesn't appear. Anyone who's ever delivered a baby or caught one, as I have, knows that they come by water.

The first sign of a coming baby is the water breaks, they call it. And the baby is shoved out by means of hydraulics. The baby is in a bag surrounded with water. And the woman's muscles begin to squeeze that bag.

And that bag gets squeezed so hard that it wants to burst. And there's only one little place that's open where it can burst. So the bag breaks right there. And when it does, the baby's head is stuck up against that hole like a stopper in a bathtub.

And all that water pressure squeezing against that baby's body is pressing it towards that hole. And as she continues to squeeze, pop! That head comes out and whoosh! That whole body washes out into the bedroom floor or on the bed or wherever you're having your baby.

And that baby is born of water. Everybody knows that. And so Nicodemus said, should I enter the second time into my mother's womb and be born? And Jesus said, you've got to be born of water, but you've also got to be born of the Spirit if you're going to enter the kingdom of God.

Now someone said, well, that's kind of redundant, isn't it? Why mention being born of water? Because Jesus is answering Nicodemus' question. And furthermore, there are some individuals who've never been born of water, who cannot therefore be born again.

You say, who would that be? Angels who sinned. They were never born of water. They were created. And so they cannot be born again even though they've sinned. You must be born of water and of the Spirit.

And angels cannot enter the kingdom of God. Even the righteous ones who've never sinned are the sinful ones who've disobeyed God. None of them can enter the kingdom of God. You must be born of water and of the Spirit to enter the kingdom of God.

He said that which is born of the flesh is flesh. Now look at Gabriel there. He came out of Deb's womb. He's flesh. Deb is flesh. Gabe's wife is about to have a baby. It's going to be flesh. That which is born of the flesh is flesh.

That which is born of the Spirit, he said, is Spirit. So Nicodemus was thinking about a flesh birth. Jesus was talking about a spiritual birth. Being born again by the Spirit of God. And Jesus said to him, that which is born of the flesh is flesh.

That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Marvel not that I say unto you. Nicodemus was standing there with his mouth open. Marvel not that I say unto you, you must be born again. You must be born again.

Religious Profession Without Salvation

You'll never go to heaven unless you're born again. You can join a Christian church, become a Christian, be baptized in water, and keep the commandments of God, but not be born again. And when you die, you'll die without God, lost.

Being a Christian won't get you to heaven. You must be born again. Believing that Jesus is won't get you to heaven. You must be born again. Believing that Jesus died on the cross for you won't get you to heaven.

You must be born again. Asking Jesus to come into your heart and take away your sins won't get you to heaven. You must be born again. There are many lost homeschool kids today and children of Christian families because they were raised in Christian homes to be pretty good and to believe all the things the Bible teaches.

And they think that because they ask Jesus in their heart that they're saved. You know, I see a lot of parents that are in a hurry to get their kids saved. So they'll go to a six-year-old and they'll say, do you want to be a Christian?

Do you want Jesus in your heart? Oh, yes, I want Jesus in my heart. All right, then bow your head and tell Jesus that you want Him to come into your heart and you want Him to forgive you and you want to go to heaven.

So the kid prays the prayer. And the parent says to the kid, now you're a Christian. Now Jesus lives in your heart. And then the kid comes along about nine years old and says, you know, I don't know if Jesus is in my heart or not.

I'm not sure I'm a Christian. And the parents say to the kid, would God lie to you? No. Well, what does God say? It says he that believes on Him will be saved and not come into condemnation that is passed from death to life.

Do you believe? Yeah, I believe. Then you must be saved. Don't call God a liar. Oh, I don't want to call God a liar, so I must be saved. And the kid gets up about 16 years old and begins to wander in sin.

And the kid goes to a revival meeting or something. And here's the gospel priest and says, you know, I'm not sure I'm a Christian. I'm not sure I'm saved. And somebody counseling says, you're just doubting your salvation.

What you just need is some assurance of your salvation. Let me give you three verses that will give you assurance of your salvation. Give them three Bible verses. The kid looks at those and says, well, I must be saved because the Bible says this or that.

And the kid's never been born again. And then he gets in sin and lives that way for 10 years. Then when he's 28 years old, he has an experience with God and he understands that he's a sinner and depraved and lost.

He understands he's undone and he feels guilty. One night he cries out after a big drunk and finds out he's got gonorrhea. He calls on God. He confesses his sin. And suddenly the sense of guilt all goes away.

And he starts loving God. He starts hating sin. He wants to be free from it and walk in righteousness and holiness. And he goes to church and tells the pastor. And the pastor says, you want to rededicate your life to God then, right?

Yeah. And he said, okay, you've gotten right with God now. The wanderer has come home. The backslider has been restored. Now, what happened to him was he got born again. He never was saved to start with.

Recognizing the Reality of Spiritual Birth

Listen, Jesus said you must be born again. Good Christian homeschoolers must be born again. Now, my driver's license has a date on it. It says October 17, 1945. And my birth certificate has an hour and a minute on it.

I don't know what it is. I don't remember it. I don't look at my birth certificate very often. It's something I've never had doubts about, so I've never bothered to research it. But everybody's got a birth certificate.

Most people do anyhow. It's been important lately. And it will have 1205, July the 3rd or whatever it is. That's when you were born. You see, no birth certificate reads July the 3rd through the 7th, right?

It doesn't take that long. Some women feel like it does, but it doesn't. When you're born, you pop, you're out, and it happens in a moment's time. And do you know what? No one has a birth certificate in one state and another birth certificate in another state with two different dates on it.

You just have one birth certificate and one date on it. That's when you got born. Do you have a birth certificate for your second birth? Was there a second birth? When did it take place? Now, just like I don't remember the hour that I got born the first time, it doesn't change the fact I did, right?

And there are some people, some old people, you can go up to them and you can say, When were you, how old are you? Well, I don't know, I'm 97 or 99, somewhere in the neighborhood. Oh, you don't know what year you were born?

No, I don't. Where were you born? I think it was in Alabama. What hour of the day? I have no idea. Now, that doesn't delegitimize their first birth because they do not remember or cannot exactly identify the hour and the day.

But no one questions the fact there was an hour and there was a day. And they did get born the first time. And there may be someone who's born again who doesn't know the exact hour or day or moment. It may have been during the course of a week when you struggled and wrestled with God.

During the course of a week or even a month when you came to understand the gospel for the first time and your soul found rest in the Lord Jesus Christ, you began to worship God and praise Him. And you're not quite sure if it was Monday or Thursday.

You're not quite sure if it was that morning experience or that afternoon experience you had. Or in the middle of the night when you woke up and began to praise and thank God for your deliverance. You're not quite sure.

But if you're born again, you know that there was a day. There was an hour. There was a minute. And there was a second. When God placed His Spirit in you by His blood, washed your sins away and made you His child.

Now the old lady doesn't doubt her first birth because of all the calluses on her hands and her arthritis. Because of the children she's born and the life she's lived. In other words, her life testifies to her birth.

And I don't doubt that I am born again because I have a spiritual life. Not because of three verses in the Bible that I try to make personal. The Bible says the Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit that we're His.

The Spirit of God bearing witness with my spirit that I'm His. My life is a history of knowing God. My life is a history of God speaking to me. Thanking me. See, my boy Gabriel, he would never doubt that he has a daddy.

He can remember the times I've taken stick and worn him out. He can remember the times I've taken him fishing. And hunting. And all the other things that we did together. We have a history together. Now, do you have a history with God?

Do you remember all the experiences you've had with God? All the blessings? Now, I've had drunks say to me, you know, I asked God to help me heal my daughter. She's in a hospital and after four weeks she got out.

And I know God answered my prayers. I must be a Christian. That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. I mean, do you have real, vital, living, joyous experiences with God so that you know that He knows you and you know Him and your spirit's alive with Him?

And that's about emotional experiences. I'm talking about when you're a man, you're a bush hog. You talk with God, God talks with you. Do you enjoy His presence? Is He as real as your father? When you lie down at night, does He speak with you?

Do you know Him? Do you worship Him? If you don't, you've not been born again. Because where there's new birth, there is life. Life. Life is what proves the birth. A birth certificate doesn't prove it.

The Spirit’s Work in the New Birth

Life is what proves the birth. So, Jesus said to him, Marvel not that I say unto you, you must be born again. Then He says this, The wind bloweth where it listeth. The sailboat in the sea will list to the starboard or list to the port.

It'll lean this way, it'll lean that way. As the wind catches the sails and fills them up. The wind bloweth where it listeth. Now here's the sound thereof, but cannot tell whither it cometh or where it goeth.

So is everyone that's born of the Spirit. In other words, He said the wind blows, and you don't know where it came from. You don't know where it's going. You get out in the sailboat. You think the wind's out of the north.

You're utilizing it. All of a sudden it starts coming out of the northeast. You have to adjust your sails. And then suddenly it turns and it comes out of the northwest. I've been sailing along. The wind's out of the north and suddenly it starts coming out of the south.

Opposite direction. Totally. Completely. And these things are unexpected. You don't know where it's coming from. You don't know where it's going. So is everyone that's born of the Spirit. You see, the Spirit of God moves us just like the wind moves a sailboat.

Fills the sails. Carries it along. So is everyone that's born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto Him, How can these things be? So Nicodemus is intrigued by what Jesus said. And he said, How can it happen?

How can it happen? How can this happen to me? Jesus said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel? No, it's not these things. You'd think this was time to tell him. But instead Jesus wants to humble him.

He said, Nicodemus, you mean to tell me that you're a doctor of divinity? And you don't even think about being born again? You mean to tell me you're the pastor of a big church? And you've never been born again?

You mean to tell me you're head of a ministry? And you've never been born again? And you want to know, it's amazing, Jesus is kind of insulting Nicodemus here. He said, Verily I say unto you, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen, and you receive not our witness.

Now who's Jesus talking about we? Later he says, The Father testifies on my behalf, and the works that I do testify on my behalf. And he said in the house of two or three witnesses, the thing will be established.

So he said, We, he's talking about God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit, and Himself. We testify that we do know. And of that that we've seen, and you receive not our witness. If I've told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

He said, If you don't believe about the natural things, how would you believe the supernatural? No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven.

Now look at this. Here's what Jesus said. He said, No man has ascended up to heaven. Points up. But he that came down from heaven, points to himself. Even the Son of Man points to himself again, which is in heaven.

And he points back up. Now what did he actually say? He said, No man came down from heaven except me. I came down from heaven, and I'm in heaven right now, while I'm down here on earth. Now that's kind of wild talk, isn't it?

Why could he say that? Because Jesus was both man and God at the same time. He both walked on a body on the earth and filled the universe at the very same moment. What he's doing, Jesus is establishing his authority to say the things he's saying because he said to Nicodemus, I say it and you ought to believe me.

Because I'm the man who came down from heaven. I'm the man who's in heaven right now. Now he's going to actually answer Nicodemus' question. Nicodemus asked the question, How can these things be? In verse 9.

And 10, 11, 12, and 13 are not answers as to how the new birth can take place. That is an experience of humbling Nicodemus and establishing Jesus' credentials to give the answer. So he gives the answer in verse 14.

The Serpent Lifted Up and Christ’s Saving Sacrifice

Would you like to know how to be born again right now? Would you like to know how you can be born again right now? Here's Jesus' answer. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

In the wilderness, in Numbers 21, I believe it is, the children of Israel had complained about one thing or another in the wilderness. And they were unhappy and discontent. And so God sent fiery serpents into the camp.

Suddenly they woke up and the camp was full of vipers. Under their blankets, surrounding the tents, hiding in their firewood, behind every rock, hundreds of thousands of poison snakes filled their camp.

Hundreds of people were bitten right away that morning. You could hear the screams and panic throughout the camp. They ran to Moses and said, Look, God sent these fiery serpents. We're dying. Do something to save us.

And Moses goes to God and said, What can I do to save the people from these fiery serpents? And God says, Moses, sculpture a serpent like the ones that's biting the people. Sculpture it out of brass. And then put it on a pole and erect it in the middle of the camp, high up where everyone can see it.

And then send runners throughout the camp and tell them that if they'll look at the serpent lifted up on the pole, they'll be healed. So hastily, Moses had a brazen serpent sculptured and placed on a pole in the middle of the field.

And runners went through the camp and warned everyone of the need to look at the serpent on the pole. Now, a medical symbol today, a medical doctor has a staff with a serpent on the pole. If you get snake bit, you know what they give you?

Snake venom. The original way they did it was they injected it in horse blood, infected the horse blood. The horse blood defeats the snake venom. And they process it out of the ground. And they would give you a shot of that.

And that was the antidote to the snake bite. And even to this day, all antidotes to snake bites are snake venom. Now, if you were not scientifically minded, if you were like some of the Indians I was with down in Belize, they were so scared of snakes, I killed a yellow-jawed viper.

And they were so scared they wouldn't get close to the dead one within 50, 75 feet. And then I skinned it out, and I turned it with the face of the skin up and tacked it to a board. So here's this snake skin with about 50 tacks in it.

Flat, you know, tacked to a board with salt on it. And a couple of them come into camp, and I pull the snake skin out to show them what I've done, and they screech and run. Now, that's pretty scary, right?

If I'd have made a hat band, I could have walked right through them, right through a mob with that thing. I mean, that's how scared they were. Now, imagine one of them got snake bit. They don't know anything.

They're not educated at all. Primitive Maya Indians living at that ship. Imagine one of them gets snake bit. And you say, hold up, I'm going to fix your cure. And you run, and you grab that snake up, and you begin to milk it.

You milk the poison out of that snake into a little spoon. And then you take that poison, and you run over and you inject it into their horse. Now, I'm oversimplifying the process here. You inject it into their horse, or you mix it with their horse blood.

And then you stick some horse blood with this venom in it, and you put it underneath. And you say, come here, I'm going to give you a shot of this. You wouldn't even have caught him, even if he'd been snake bit by the worst kind of viper.

He'd sure head to the jungle to get out of your way. You know why? Because that sounds like the craziest thing in the world for a cure. It's more of the same. Right? More of the same. The difference is, what they're getting has already experienced the poison, the killing power, and has defeated it.

Already experienced the killing power, and defeated it, so what goes in is an antibody, an antidote to that poison. So Jesus said, just like Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.

You know what the antidote to death is? Death. Do you know what the antidote to sin is? Sin. Do you know what the antidote to a sinful man is? A God-man being made sin on your behalf. God took His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and injected Him with the poison of your sin.

Jesus was bitten by the serpent of sin. He didn't do anything. But He was bitten by the serpent of sin. And He died on a cross. And then His blood became the antidote for all sinners. So the Bible tells us that they were washed in the blood of the Lamb.

We sing, have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? The thing that washes away sin is Jesus' blood who was made sin for us, died as if He were the sinner, and became the cure for sin.

So you've been injected with the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Which life became sin, went into the grave, died, was buried, raised again, and now has supernatural eternal life. Till you've been injected with the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll never be born again.

He is the new birth. He said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Jesus was pointing to the fact that He would die on a cross. Just as on a high hill visible to all was the brazen serpent, there would come a time when on a high hill visible to all, Jesus would hang as sin for the human race.

Dying for those who were dying. So when the runners went throughout the camp in Moses' day, I could see them running up to a man saying, look, look, look to the hill. Look to the serpent. And he'd say, well, that's against my religion.

We don't look at snakes in my religion. In my religion, we only look at doves. He would have died. If someone said, well, that's just your belief. That's a bit old-fashioned, archaic. That doesn't make any sense.

I won't look. He would have died. If someone else said, well, my mother has a cure for snakebite, and he attempted some home remedy, he would have died. The only cure was the one God provided. And so it is today.

Someone comes and says, listen, Jesus died for you to take away your sins. You say, well, I don't believe it's that simple. I believe you've got to be baptized in water. You'll die in your sins. Listen, look, look, Jesus died for you.

Look at Him lifted up on your behalf. Well, I believe you've got to make Him Lord of your life. I don't believe just trusting Him is enough. You'll die in your sins. Look, Jesus is lifted up to die for you.

Now, I believe you've got to get the baptism of the Holy Ghost with evidence of speaking in tongues. You'll die in your sins. Look, Jesus is lifted up for you. Well, I believe you've got to repent of all your sins and be sincerely sorry for all of them.

Look, Jesus is lifted up for you. Well, I believe you've got to live a life of obedience and endure all the way unto the end. And then if you do it, maybe you'll be saved in the last days. You'll die in your sins.

Jesus is lifted up for sinners. When we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. You've got to be an ungodly sinner and come just as you are. We sing a song, Just as I am without one plea,.

But that thy blood was shed for me, O Lamb of God, I come. In my hands no price I bring,. Simply to thy cross I cling. And thus, Nicodemus had the chance to be born again. You must be born again. There is no other way.

Believing in the Son and Coming to the Light

You must be born again. Jesus says finally in verse 16, this famous verse that every drunken gutter can quote to you. I've had them quote it. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that He was ever believed in Him, that He was ever blessed with everlasting life.

See there, I've quoted it. I never use it with them because they quote it so well they have no idea what they just quoted. Listen to it slowly. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.

When He says gave, He's talking about as Moses gave the serpent on the wilderness. He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That's Jesus' answer to the question.

Can these things be? You notice the so-called reference to baptism occurred before that question and before that answer. Be born of water and spirit? That's already occurred. You see, at that point there was no attempt to tell how.

This is where it tells how. This is where Jesus answers the question how to be born again. And the answer does not include any reference that could possibly be conceived to be water baptism. The answer is, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. You see right now, you're condemned if you've not been born again.

Because he believeth not in the name of the only begotten Son of God. But this is the condemnation that light has come into the world. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.

See, He gives us the difference between a saved man and a lost man. The difference is that the saved man loves darkness. And what do you mean loves darkness? I mean he shuts the door to his office when no one's looking.

He turns the computer on, he does a little search on the web, and he comes up with pornographic images because he loves darkness rather than light. I'm talking about that he gets videos that will cause him to indulge in immoral thoughts and lusts.

Allow him to practice in his imagination sin that he wouldn't go out and do otherwise. And he gets in the dark where no one can see, and indulges in those things and those thoughts. And he thinks no one knows.

And he has no consciousness that every angel in heaven is watching. That that is going to be brought public in the Day of Judgment. That all of his friends, wife and family are going to know what he did that day in the Day of Judgment.

All of it is going to be brought to light. He doesn't know that. Love darkness rather than light. That means they slip off, kids. Get a cigarette or a joint or some drugs, and in the darkness they take it.

And they party because they love darkness rather than light. Because their deeds are evil. The Bible says, He that is of the light comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifest, that they are wrought in God.

So a Christian is not one who seeks darkness. He always seeks light. Have you been born again? If you have, you have new life. If you don't have new life, you need to be born again. How can I be born again?

For God so loved the world that He gave His own begotten Son. He said, but I believe. There is a belief that is with a head only, and there is a belief that is with a head and a heart. There is a belief that is nominal, like a Mormon believes, like a Muslim believes, like a Jew believes, like a Jehovah's Witness believes, like a Church of Christ believes, that will not save you.

And then there is a belief that is with a heart and soul. As Philip went out to meet the Ethiopian eunuchs, and the eunuch having heard the gospel from Isaiah 53 said, See, here is water of what doth hinder me to be baptized.

And Philip answered him, If you believe with all your heart. So there is a belief that is not with all the heart. There is a belief that is with all the heart. And you know it is simple. Someone said, well that is easy believism.

Belief is very easy. Very easy, but it does not come cheaply. It does not come glibly. It does not come with indifference on the where of the moment. It is not an emotional response. But it is mighty easy at the moment of belief.

It is the easiest thing in the world you will ever do. It is simply giving up, giving over, and letting God be the Savior.