The New Birth: Born of Water & the Spirit

Let's get started. Let's look at the message of what Jesus gives to this very religious man, Nicodemus. John chapter 3. John chapter 3. And again, this Lord's Day morning we continue our series on the new birth.

God's Role in Salvation and Regeneration

And today our focus will be on God's role in salvation. God's role in regeneration. The role of the sovereignty of God in salvation. The G3 conference was actually, that was their theme. The sovereignty of God.

So in saying that, we look at John chapter 3 and I'd like to read. Let's begin at verse 1 and I'd like to stop at verse 12. And we'll pick up Lord willing on that next Lord's Day. Hear the word of the living God.

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 things, these signs, miracles, that you do unless God is with him.

Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly 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, Most assuredly 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 the flesh is flesh. That which is 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 the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.

Nicodemus answered and said to him,.

How can these things be?

How can these things be? Jesus answered and said to him, Are you a teacher of Israel and do not know these things? Most assuredly I say to you, We speak what we know and testify what we have seen. And you do not receive our witness.

If I have told you of earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? Let's stop right there and let's bow our hearts in prayer together as we seek our Lord in this time of worship as we hear His word.

Our Father and our great God, we thank you for your holy word. And Lord, we know only by your word and your word alone through the Spirit has the power, the awesome power of life given creation. And let me say and add to that prayer, only your word has the power of eternal life regeneration by your Spirit.

So Lord, we know that creation has come about by your word and we know that regeneration, recreation comes by your word. Nothing else. And your word, Father, we thank you. It goes forth from your mouth and you promise that it shall not return unto you void, but it shall accomplish, it shall accomplish that which pleases you and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto you have sent it.

So Lord, now we pray, sanctify us by your truth for your word is truth. And we ask this for your honor and your glory in the name that's above all names, Jesus Christ, amen and amen. Well, as we have seen in this fourth gospel and also gives such focus on the deity of Jesus Christ that Jesus is God incarnate.

The second person of the Trinity has come among us. He's Emmanuel, God with us. In Jesus, in Jesus alone. And the deity of Jesus Christ, as you well know, through the gospel of John, gives emphasis on new beginnings.

New beginnings. Isn't this wonderful? In chapter 1, we have seen that Jesus Christ is the eternal word. We've seen that through verses 1 to 5. And then in verses 6 to 13, speaks of Jesus being the true light.

As we was listening to Brother Stephen Lawson, he spoke on that today that Jesus Christ is the true light that comes into a very dark world. A great light has appeared. And then in verses 14 to 17 in John, we have seen that Christ, in John chapter 1, that Christ is the word and that word has become flesh.

He has pitched His tent among us. He has come here. God Almighty, the one that created heaven and earth, has come to live among us. But He has a mission. He has a mission. His mission is to go to a cross and to die upon it for the redemption of His people.

Then you go to chapter 2 of John and we have seen in the past Lord's days, as we've studied from verse 1 to 12, we see that Jesus actually performed His very first miracle at the wedding in Canaan of Galilee, turning the water into wine.

What did we notice there? What did we notice? That Jesus actually creates something from nothing. He is the creator. Only He can do this. And then in verse 11, it says this, that this is the beginning of signs Jesus did in Canaan of Galilee and manifested His glory.

And His disciples believed in Him. He manifested His glory. And then in chapter 2, in verse 13 to 22, we saw how the Lord Jesus comes to do the Father's business. He cleanses the temple. He, in Jerusalem, at the Passover feast.

And many believed in His name, the scripture says, when they saw the signs, the miracles, when He did this. And then in verse 24 and 25, as we've seen in chapter 2, it says, but Jesus did not commit Himself to them because He knew all men and He had no need that anyone should testify of man for He knew what was in man.

So basically, these verses, these actions in which Jesus performed is from new wine to a new temple. And then we see, now we see that only Jesus as God in flesh, speaking to Nicodemus through the power of the Holy Spirit can give new life, a new birth.

He gives all things new. This is what Jesus comes to do. And He has done this through His life and His death and His burial and His resurrection. Through the power of the cross and what He has accomplished.

Now, last Lord's Day, as we looked at this wonderful chapter, chapter 3, we met Nicodemus, a very religious man.

He's a ruler of the Jews.

He's a member of the Sanhedrin. He is of the highest religious rank that there is in Israel in that time. He's part, he's a member of the Sanhedrin. Legal legislative, of a judicial body, so to speak, of the Jews at that time period.

He's highly respected. Let's keep this in mind. He's what we would say a conservative theologian.

In our day.

He's a highly respected teacher of the Hebrew scriptures, of the law, the Torah. And yet, Nicodemus is what you would say the cream of the crop of the Jewish Sanhedrin,.

So to speak.

So this, no doubt, is one of the most formidable Pharisees in the religious system of Israel in that time period. And as we said, Josephus said there was roughly about 6 ,000 Pharisees in that time period.

Now keep in mind that Judaism was established by the Lord, Yahweh. Judaism is of the law, the law of God, God's standard, and it is God's holiness in which we see through the law. But the law cannot save.

It's weak in that sense. So grace is far greater. And that's why the scripture says that the law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. But at the time of the first century of Judaism, it went apostate.

It went apostate. A very similar situation to what is happening today as we live and see what is going on as a whole of the church, not necessarily by divisions and names and denominations, but the visible church.

It's basically gone apostate and has strayed away from the gospel. And Judaism went apostate, and they have forgotten and forsaken God, and that the glory of God had departed from them. Echabod has been written on basically the structures and the doors of that time period of the synagogues.

But yet now here we see the glory of God in Jesus Christ has now come in fullness in His flesh. Think of that. He comes, He appears, and now here comes this very religious man, Nicodemus.

He comes to Jesus by night.

Isn't that interesting? Maybe because we don't know necessarily why He came by night, but probably because to save embarrassment or maybe to have a personal, intimate conversation with Jesus. We don't know exactly, but what matters is He came.

He came. And isn't that what matters to us? Make sure you come to Jesus. Come to Jesus.

Nicodemus comes.

He's a very religious man. Actually, he's empty-hearted. He's worrying. He's a worrying sinner. And the outline I take from John MacArthur, it's a hard one to beat, but he actually speaks of in verse 1 to 4, we have the sinner's worry.

In verses 5 to 7, we have the Savior's way. And then in verse 8 to 12, we have the Spirit's work. So we're going to be working our way through the Savior's way today and the Spirit's work mainly. But you know, it's interesting.

Here is this high-ranking Jewish ruler. He is a very religious man. He's a very religious official. And Jesus actually reads his heart, doesn't He? He answered him.

And I think this is pretty interesting.

Because if you notice in verse 3, Jesus answered and said to him. Nicodemus isn't asking a question, but the Scripture says that Jesus answered him. Isn't that interesting? So what Jesus is doing is he's reading his heart.

He's discerning his heart. Jesus knows exactly what he needs. Nicodemus is basically there and he desires something. He knows something is missing within him. He is a worrying sinner. Verse 3 is Jesus discerns his empty heart.

He knows exactly what he needs. And then our Lord tells him what he needs. He says most assuredly,.

I say to you,.

Or truly, truly,.

Amen, Amen.

I say to you,.

Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus, you must be born again.

That's what you need.

In order to see the kingdom. And Jesus later on says, even to enter into the kingdom. And as Stephen Lawson so wonderfully put it this morning in our Sunday school session, he must see the kingdom of God and must be by new birth.

He's blind. He's blind. He's a blind man. And Jesus knew this. You must be born from above. You must be born again. This is the message our Lord Jesus gives to him. And by the way, this is the message for all of us.

And this is the message for us to give to the world. We must tell them, you must be born again. You must be born again. At first sight, the answer of our Lord Jesus does not seem to be connected to what Nicodemus has just said.

For Nicodemus said to him, Rabbi, we, speaking of the Jews, we know that you are a teacher come from God and no one can... Notice this, what he says.

No one can do these signs that you do.

Unless God is with him. It's interesting, isn't it? Notice Nicodemus is kind of focused on the miracles, the doing. He sees him do these things. And Jesus did do miracles. He did great miracles and many miracles there at the Feast of Passover that's not even recorded.

And John says if they were recorded, all the books could not contain them. Jesus did many miracles there, but Jesus knew how to focus in on his heart and give him what he needs, not what he wanted. And he also, in that, knew how to focus on a miracle greater than even the miracles he was doing and that was the miracle of regeneration.

The greatest miracle of all in this life. Keep in mind also that Nicodemus and that group in the latter part, basically, he is in that group. In verse 23, that many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did.

Nicodemus is in that group. And Jesus is basically saying to Nicodemus, you've come to me for teaching. This is something to paraphrase. You've come to me for teaching, Nick, but what you really need is to be born from above.

You need to be born again. And that is where we must always begin. Nicodemus, you must be born from above. I like the way MacArthur puts this. Dump all your religion. You must start all over. Think of that.

That's saying something. You must dump it all.

Like Paul did.

It's all rubbish.

It's all manure.

It stinks.

And God is basically, Jesus is basically telling Nicodemus, your religion stinks to God. That's what he's saying.

It stinks. Can you imagine that?

There's only really one religion that God really is pleased with. It's only through Jesus Christ. And that's pure religion. That's undefiled. That's the only time actually the word religion is used in the Scriptures.

It's that one time in James. But every other time that we speak of religion, it's not relationship to Jesus Christ and God. If you notice, religion is focused so much on what man can accomplish. What man can do to get to God.

But Christianity is the only religion, you can say, that comes to man. It's not what man has accomplished. It's what God has accomplished. It's what God has done. And it's what God has done through Jesus Christ.

Isn't that the Gospel?

It's not what you have done, or what I have done, or what we have accomplished. And like Jonathan Edwards says, the only thing that you and I have contributed to our salvation is the sin that has provided it.

That's it.

Well, Nicodemus says you've got to start all over. I'm sorry, Jesus said to Nicodemus, you must start all over. You must start all over. Otherwise you cannot see or enter into the kingdom of God. Notice.

Jesus answered a question in Nicodemus' heart that he did not even ask. He reads his discerns, his heart. I love that. And he goes to the very core. That's the word of the living God. And here was the word in flesh.

And he tells him this powerful revelation. You must be born from above. Well, think of it. I like the way Edwards says it. He basically said, well, most people that is unregenerate, they say they want God, but they really don't want God.

They want the benefits of God.

But if you were to go to heaven, heaven would be a boring place to you. Because you're not regenerated. It's a holy place for holy people because we serve a holy God and everything about God is holy, holy, holy.

And we're going to live with God throughout all eternity forever. And that's why in the new birth that our nature must be changed. Man's nature must be changed. And this is what Jesus is getting to Nicodemus.

You must have a new nature. Nicodemus, what you need is a spiritual transformation, not a reformation. Nicodemus, what you need is regeneration that is produced only by the spirit of the living God that comes and breathes upon a dead man and raises him to life.

It's not something you do, Nicodemus. It's something that God has done. Well, verse 1 through 3, that's basically we see the sinner that's worrying. He's a worrying sinner because he's a religious man.

Now, Nicodemus is, again, very religious, isn't he? He's probably the most religious, respected leader of the Jews in Israel at that time period. And we cannot deny that. But he's a worrying, he's still a lost sinner.

He's a sinner. Religious but a sinner? Yes. He fears God's wrath. And all Nicodemus, like Luther, later on in history, all he could see was the frown of God. All he could see was the judgment of God upon his soul.

And that's why I think that Nicodemus comes to the Lord on a private conversation. He wants a private conversation. He has no assurance of his salvation whatsoever. Jesus discerns his heart and he says, you must be born again.

You must be born from above. And without that you cannot see or enter into the kingdom of God. And what Jesus is talking about is God's kingdom. He's talking about the realm of salvation. He's talking about that realm in which all that God has, the riches and the supplies that are found in God through Jesus Christ, that comes through God's mercy through Jesus.

Now we come to the second point. That's the worrying sinner. The worrying sinner. Then we come to the Savior's way in which we have looked at. And you see that he says to him, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

In verse 5, that's the Savior's way. The work of the Spirit of God for salvation is being born again from above. The theologians put it, it's not synergistic in which sanctification is, by the way. It's monergistic.

Basically those two words sound complicated, but it's what theologians say. Synergistic is in a sense being man-centered in what we do. But monergistic means God-centeredness, not of man's will, but of God's will, God's power, God's might.

And it is the Lord's power and God's might that produces the new birth.

We cannot have it.

Again, we cannot contribute anything to the new birth. There's so many books out there that basically tries to explain by very, you know, I would say, well-intended writers in the evangelical churches how to be born again.

And they give you step 1, 2, 3, and 4.

How-tos.

But really, if you go to the Word of God, there's no how-tos about it. It is what God has done and what God has done alone. And that's it. Now, let's look at the questions Nicodemus asked Jesus. Look at verse 4.

Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Listen to these questions. He gives two questions right off the cuff. How can a man be born when he's old?

And then he says,.

How can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Two questions he gives Jesus. And both of these questions were really grounded in the impossibility, the inability of man.

And may I add,.

The unbelief of man. This is a blind man asking a question to the Savior who is the true light of the world. Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus was talking about when Jesus introduced to him that revelation of the new birth that you must be born from above.

At this point, he could not believe. He had no ability to believe in the new birth. He was coming in unbelief. The new birth was a necessary requirement to see and enter the kingdom of God. But Nicodemus knew there was an impossibility, but he comes in unblind unbelief.

And isn't that the way we are? Before we are supernaturally conceived in the sense of into the kingdom of God. He was amazed. And Jesus said, Don't marvel at this. He was amazed by even the very thought of it.

But again, his response is marked by blind unbelief. And as Brother Lawson said this morning, again, blind unbelief is basically the rebellion against God. His rebellion. And we are born with this, folks.

We are born because of the original sin and the sin nature that we have. And here he is. He's thinking fleshly. He's thinking carnal.

He's thinking,.

How can this happen? How can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Nicodemus plainly illustrates to us what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2.

Go with me very quickly there and we'll see this. Look at 1 Corinthians 2. This is a very important scripture that goes right along to everything that the way Nicodemus is basically asking Jesus and responding to Jesus.

1 Corinthians 2. Look at verse 13 and 14. The Apostle Paul says this. These things we also speak not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches. The Holy Spirit teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual, discerning things that are spiritual with spiritual.

Spiritual things must be spiritually discerned. Verse 14. But the natural man... What does it say? Does not or cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. And then he even says this. For they are foolishness to him.

See, this is what Nicodemus is doing. This is almost foolishness to think. How can I go back into my mother's womb? Foolishness to him. And then Paul says, nor can he know them. He doesn't know them. They are foolishness to him.

Because he is of the natural man. That's why when you and I give the gospel to people that are blind in their sins, dead in their sins, everything that we're speaking to them is absolutely foolishness.

Foolishness.

Craziness.

What are you talking about?

I'm not being born again.

But we know.

We know. Paul said this.

Amen.

Hey, I got one amen.

Yes.

These things we also speak. Who's the we? The believers. Not in words which man's wisdom teaches. It's not man's wisdom.

But which the Holy Spirit,.

The Spirit of truth, the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of light, the Spirit of truth that gives and opens people's blinded eyes.

Amen.

Well, Nicodemus is a perfect example of this, isn't he? And this is the very reason why he could not understand the words of Jesus concerning you must be born again. You must be born from above. This is very critical.

Because none of us or no one can even see or enter into the kingdom of God unless he is born from above through the power of the Holy Spirit. He must be regenerated. He must have new life. And Nicodemus is that perfect example.

The natural man does not understand. He doesn't know because the natural man does not have the Spirit of God abiding within him. The natural man does not receive or welcomes the things of the Spirit of God.

And that's basically God's view on that. Well, back to John 3. Jesus is going to teach Nicodemus now. Wouldn't you just love to bend a fly on the wall just to hear this, right? This wonderful conversation Nicodemus.

Here comes the great teacher himself, Jesus. He comes to teach a man what it means to be born of water and the Spirit. This is very critical, folks. What actually is truly being said here is being born of God, being born of the Spirit, being born, born.

Notice he speaks of birth. And as everyone knows, today is my birthday. I'm not going to tell you my age, but anyway. Your birth, your first birth is of pretty much significance. You're here, right? And you and I had nothing to do.

With our first birth.

And Jesus gives this analogy on purpose. Jesus is basically telling Nicodemus, so you have nothing to do with your second birth. And by the way, let me add to that. Our first birth is important because we have to be here in existence to receive the second birth.

So you must be first born, but you must be twice born. And actually, the second birth.

Is far greater than the first birth.

I know we have birthday celebrations and children love it, and cakes and candles. And you know, as you get older, you don't care too much about that. I just kind of look at, I'm getting closer and closer to heaven.

I'm ready to go and depart and be with the Lord. But I know that the Lord has me here for a purpose and time. I'm in a betwixt, kind of like what Paul says. But my inner man has a greater desire to go see God and be with the Lord.

And you all know what I'm talking about.

When you age a little bit more, Sister Lillian's definitely saying.

Amen and amen over there.

God's given her such longevity of life. And isn't that so true, Sister Lillian? The older you get, the more you just are waiting.

To see the face of Jesus.

And depart from this world.

Oh my.

But isn't our second birth.

Far greater of importance.

Than our first birth? And this is what Jesus is basically teaching Nicodemus. Jesus answered and said to him,.

Most assuredly,.

Amen, amen, truly, truly, I say to you, verily, verily, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. You can't see it. You can't enter into it. You must be born from above.

It must be something that God does.

All of God. I love what Pastor John MacArthur comments on this and I got this from his commentary. Quote, he doesn't say to him, speaking to Nicodemus, well, you're a good man. You're a very religious man.

Just kind of do this and do that.

And say this little prayer.

No.

He says, Nicodemus, you're at ground zero. You're at zero.

Zero. Zero.

And you're,.

Oh yeah,.

You're high up on the religious stratosphere. But with God, you're at ground zero. And you need to be born from above and that is a work. End quote. I love that. That's what he's telling Nicodemus.

Nicodemus,.

You're at ground zero.

To man,.

In this world, you may be way up the ladder. But with God, no, sir. You're at ground zero.

Well,.

How does, Nicodemus, he says, and he asks, how does this new birth happen? He almost puts it in terms of, it's impossibility,.

Isn't it?

We can't do anything to contribute to my birth except the only thing we contribute is our sin.

But, verse 5,.

Jesus gives the answer to Nicodemus, doesn't he? And don't you always love how the Lord gives answers?

I mean,.

A lot of times he'll give a question to the question, but this time, with Nicodemus, he tells him boldly what the answer is. Verse 5, Jesus answered, most assuredly, most assured, truly, truly,.

I say to you,.

And Jesus is correcting Nicodemus' theology, by the way. That's what he's doing. He's correcting him.

I say to you,.

Unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Now, this is critical. Let me say this. There's a lot of controversy today over the interpretation of what Jesus means by this phrase, born of water and the spirit.

This could be a whole sermon, folks. This could be an entire series, but because of the time, I'm just going to give a short version, very quickly, of some of the interpretations of this, okay? So, please stay with me.

Number one, one of the interpretations is this. Jesus was referring to water baptism, and water baptism is essential for salvation. There's many people that teach this. The Church of Christ is right down the road here, teaches that you must be water baptized to enter into the kingdom of God, but that becomes work salvation because if water baptism could save me,.

H2O,.

That means I'm adding to what Jesus has done already on the cross, right? So, in other words, there are interpretations that, oh, you must be water baptized to enter into the kingdom of God, and let me say this.

Water baptism is certainly a part of our obedience to Christ as a believer and our witness for Jesus to the world. There is a part for water baptism, but it is not essential for salvation. Let me say that again.

It is not essential for salvation. If that was the case, then none of the Old Testament saints were ever saved, and then even the thief on the cross was not saved. So, because he could not get to water, right?

He's hanging on a cross. But Jesus gives him the word, today you will be with me in paradise because he acknowledged he was Lord and he acknowledged he was a sinner. That was the work of a sovereign God upon that thief on the cross.

Another interpretation would be, would not really apply to Nicodemus, but there's people that, commentators say this, water baptism or water, I should say, H2O is part of the human birth. As a woman, as she has a baby, the water breaks.

The water breaks, and so that must be referring to somehow the human birth here. But, let me say this, that could not be the interpretation because Nicodemus would know nothing about water breaking, would he?

As a Jewish theologian of that day, so it's not talking about unless you're born physically or spiritually. So, Jesus is not referring to physical birth, then used in contrasting the phrase of the spirit to referring to the spiritual birth.

Much more can be said of this, by the way, but let's move along. When Jesus is basically saying to Nicodemus, unless you're born of water and of the spirit, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Let me tell you what I believe he's saying here according to the word of God.

Nicodemus should have known this because he was a teacher of the Old Testament prophets and law, what he was talking about. He should have known, and Jesus actually lovingly rebukes him for this. You're a teacher of Israel and you don't know these things?

And I think in a sense,.

How Nicodemus responded to Jesus, he's insulting Jesus in a sense and Jesus really pours on the truth to him.

How can these things be?

Verse 10,.

How can these things be?

Well, Jesus answered and said to him, You're the teacher of Israel and do not know these things.

What?

You should know them. You graduated from Jewish seminary, cemetery school.

You should know.

What things is Jesus referring to?

What things?

Well, what he's referring to is from the Old Testament prophets. Nicodemus, you're the expert.

You should know, but you don't.

You don't know.

Because salvation is not a matter of something you do. It's a matter of what God has done and what God is doing. This great truth is found, by the way, in the teaching of the prophets. Turn with me very quickly to a few.

Let's go through some of them. Let's look at Ezekiel chapter 11. Now hold your finger at Ezekiel because the word of God teaches this. And this is what Nicodemus and what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus.

You should have known this, Nicodemus. Chapter 11. Look at verse 17 through 20. 17 through 20. He says this. Therefore say, thus says the Lord God, I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

And they will go there and they will take away all the detestable things and all of its abominations from there. And notice verse 19. Then I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them and take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them and that they shall be My people and I will be their God.

And as for those whose hearts follow the desire for the detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their deeds on their own heads, says the Lord God. I think that's enough said there of what he's talking about.

He's talking about a heart creation, new creation. God says, I will give them one heart. And I, notice how many times I will. God does this. I will put a new spirit within them,.

Something new.

And I will take that stony heart,.

That heart, what he's speaking of.