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Reading John 3:4-8 where Jesus again tells Nicodemus he must be born of both water and the Spirit to see the kingdom of God. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
Jesus said to Nicodemus, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Jesus was referencing Ezekiel and Nicodemus didn't get it, but we should when we understand the text.
Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty. Visit our website at www .utt .com.
Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.
Thank you, Becky. We're back in John 3 today, Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus, and I'll begin by reading verses 1 through 8. 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 the flesh is flesh, and 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 its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit. Now Jesus' first response to Nicodemus is curious, because it's almost like he missed what it is that Nicodemus said in his greeting. Or maybe John is just trying to catch the high points of this conversation so he skips over stuff.
Look at what it is that Nicodemus says at the start. We know you're a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. And how did Jesus reply? Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Well, that doesn't even have anything to do with what Nicodemus just said. So is Jesus avoiding this kind of pseudo question that Nicodemus presents? He didn't really ask it, but he's kind of insinuating, you know, did you come from God?
And instead, he just skips right past that to talk about what Jesus wants to talk about. On the contrary, Jesus directly responded to what Nicodemus just said. And more so, again, Nicodemus says, you have to have come from God.
God must be with you. And Jesus' reply is, truly, truly, I say to you, what does that mean exactly? That Jesus starts with truly, truly. In the King James Bible, it would be verily, verily. Or in the NIV, if you're using an NIV Bible, it would be very truly.
So what is, what are these two words? What is this supposed to imply or mean? And why does Jesus sometimes begin his phrases this way? Not just in John, but in the other Gospels as well, he'll start with truly, truly.
Well, in Hebrew, if we were to have translated this from Hebrew, it's the words a and mean put together. And you might recognize that as amen or amen that we often say at the end of a prayer. Amen means, so be it.
It is to be in agreement with everything that was just said. And that's what we kind of tack on to the end of the prayer. May these things be pleasing and honorable to the Lord. If this pleases God, if this is the delight of the Lord's heart, then we agree with it.
Amen. That's what it means to say that at the end of a prayer. And then everybody says that together. You know, as a congregation, whenever I'm preaching in church, most of the prayers that I pray, I will end with, and all God's people said, because that encourages the entire congregation to respond with amen.
And we all say that together. We're all in agreement of the words that were just prayed because we do. We desire the heart of God. So what would it mean to put amen at the beginning of a statement? See, Jesus doesn't conclude his statements with that.
He starts with, so be it, or he begins with verily, verily, or truly, truly to open a statement this way is much more authoritative. It's more than just saying, I agree with this. Well, of course you agree with what you're about to say.
You're going to say it, but rather it's to say that I have firsthand knowledge of this truth or in other words, this originates with me. This is mine. This is my own original idea. And yet what Jesus is quoting to Nicodemus is not new.
It actually is referencing back to Ezekiel. And I'll show you that as we kind of go through this here. So this is a claim of divinity for Jesus to say, truly, truly, I say to you, just as Nicodemus had said to Jesus, well, you have to have come from God because these signs that you do, no one can do these things unless God is with him.
And then Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, he's responding to Nicodemus, I am God. God is more than just with me, I am he. Now, of course, Jesus doesn't say that directly. But as we come back through this text and we see all the different ways in which Jesus revealed who he was through the things that he did and the things that he said, we understand that's exactly what he's implying with this answer that he's giving to Nicodemus.
Again, go back to John chapter two, verse twenty two. And it says when Jesus was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, that he said, I will destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.
And they believe the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. So he had had little bits and pieces that he dropped all throughout his earthly ministry, pointing to himself as divine. But the disciples didn't understand it until after all these things were said and done.
And then they realized the scriptures had been written about Christ and Jesus fulfilled them. And so here this statement would be one of those things. Again, we had just read at the end of chapter two that Jesus did not entrust himself to man because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he knew what was in man.
So he's not directly responding to Nicodemus with I am God. Rather, he says, truly, truly, I say to you so that those suggestions are always there. And when all is said and done, all the pieces of the puzzle reveal this beautiful picture that we didn't know we were seeing when we first started putting all of this together.
But now we see that when Jesus said truly, truly that he was making a divine claim of himself, I say to you as God, I say this to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see my kingdom. And Nicodemus said, how can a man be born when he is old?
Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? And of course, Nicodemus responded that way because he is a naturally minded man. We read in first Corinthians chapter two, these things God has revealed to us through the spirit, for the spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person which is in him. So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the spirit of God. Now, we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. Now, here's verse 14, first Corinthians 2, 14. The natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God, for they are folly to him and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one for who has understood the mind of the Lord. So as to instruct him. But we have the mind of Christ and here Nicodemus does not have the mind of Christ, so he does not understand what Jesus said to him when he said that a man must be born again.
So how does Nicodemus reply? He replies as the natural person rather than the spiritually minded man. How is it that a man can be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
And Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you once again, this claim of authority, these words that he is saying to Nicodemus are true and Jesus has firsthand knowledge of that truth because this truth originated with him.
I say to you, he says, unless one is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And again, this is a reference back to something Ezekiel wrote when Ezekiel was prophesying to the people of Israel.
And yet this very prophecy was something that would have a greater fulfillment than just something Ezekiel was saying to his own kinsmen. This was something that was going to be fulfilled in Christ, that all those who believe in him would be born again, that they would be born of water and the spirit.
Here is what Ezekiel says in Ezekiel, chapter 36, starting in verse 22. Therefore, say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, it is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.
So this is after Israel had rebelled against God and they had been sent into exile. And then the Lord is talking about how he is going to redeem them, even though. They profaned the name of God. Verse 23, I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations in which you have profaned among them, and the nations will know that I am the Lord declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.
I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness is and from all your idols.
I will cleanse you and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit. I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. God merely saying, I will remove your hard heartedness and give you a soft heart.
Verse 27, and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. I will cause you to obey me. The Lord God says Jesus is referencing this very thing when he says to Nicodemus that unless you are born of water and the spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Now, this is often interpreted that water and spirit is being born of a woman and then being born again of the spirit, because there's water in a woman's amniotic sack. And so whenever any of us are born physically, we're born of water.
So the first time we are born, we come from our mothers. That's that's the way everybody is born of water. But then one must also be born of the spirit. And that is Jesus reference to being born again.
That's one interpretation that often is applied to John three, five. But again, that's not the reference, because Jesus is referencing back to Ezekiel, not just in this verse, but also later on, which I'll come to that here in just a moment.
Another way this verse gets interpreted is that you have to be baptized. And if you're not baptized, then you are not born again. You can't be saved. You have to be born of water, baptized and the spirit.
The spirit of God coming upon you for you to be saved in a Pentecostal church would say that you have to be baptized and you have to speak in tongues because that's the evidence of the spirit of God coming upon you.
But again, false teaching, because that is not what Jesus is saying here at all. It's a reference back to this passage in Ezekiel. And you see that exact pairing of washing with the water and the spirit again, Ezekiel thirty six, twenty five, I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols.
I will cleanse you and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and I will give you a soft heart. Now, Nicodemus will not understand what it is that Jesus is saying to him.
But Jesus replies, are you the teacher of Israel? And yet you don't understand these things. That's verse 10. It's because Nicodemus should understand these references. Jesus is referencing the scriptures.
And yet Nicodemus doesn't understand it. And he's trying to show Nicodemus that what is testified in the word of God is pointing to Jesus Christ. And yet Nicodemus is not able to put all this together because he's a naturally minded man.
So he's reading the Bible with a natural mind instead of according to the spirit of God. So he's missing the reference and he's not understanding what Jesus means when he says that you have to be born again and you have to be born of water and the spirit.
And this is the work of God upon a person for the Lord. God says, I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. My friends, being born again is the work of God from beginning to end.
It is not anything that you have done. Now, as far as you are concerned, when you are presented with a decision to repent of your sin and follow Jesus Christ and you made that decision, you made a choice.
Did you not? Of course you did. But when you come to study the theology of it, you find out that you could not have ever made that decision if it was not for the transformed heart that God gave you to make that decision.
For it says in Romans chapter three, verses 10 through 12, there is no one good. No one does anything good. No one is righteous. No one seeks for God. If no one can do anything good, then how can we make a decision to follow Jesus, which would no doubt be a good thing?
Would it not? The only way you are able to make that decision is because God has cleansed your heart of all your uncleannesses and put his spirit within you and has caused you to obey his statutes, to obey the gospel.
The gospel is not a suggestion. It is a command. Repent and believe those who are the sheep of God will follow the voice of the good shepherd and they will obey it. Those who are not his sheep won't. Now, everyone comes to salvation the exact same way.
It is the declaration of the gospel. You are convicted over your sin and you turn from your sin and follow Jesus Christ. Romans 10, 17. Faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. You heard the word of God proclaimed and you believed it.
That's how everyone comes to salvation. The declaration of the gospel and belief in that gospel. But the person who hears the gospel and doesn't believe it did not have their heart transformed by the Holy Spirit of God.
The person who does hear the gospel and believes it only came to believe it because the work of the spirit was upon them. They have been born again. They had a dead spirit in their hearts that was incapable of doing anything that was pleasing or honoring of God.
They were not seeking for God. They did not love God. Their heart was darkened. They were far from him. The spirit, by the grace and mercy of God, has changed that heart from the dead man that he was.
This death that all of us have inherited from Adam because of the sinfulness of man and that dead person inside was revived to hear the gospel and respond to it. And that's actually where Jesus goes next, referencing a story in Ezekiel where this very thing was demonstrated in Ezekiel chapter 37.
This is right after chapter 36, in case you you can't count. So right after we just read in 36 about God putting his spirit within you, we then read about the valley of dry bones right at the start of Ezekiel 37.
The hand of the Lord was upon me and he brought me out in the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley. It was full of bones and he led me around among them. And behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley.
And behold, they were very dry. And God said to me, son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, oh, Lord God, you know. And then he said to me, prophesy over these bones. And I said to them, oh, dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
Thus says the Lord God to these bones. Behold, I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you.
And you shall live and you shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded and as I prophesied, there was a sound. And behold, a rattling and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
And I looked and behold, there were sinews on them and flesh had come upon them and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath.
Thus says the Lord God come from the four winds, oh breath, and breathe on these slain that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me and the breath came into them and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
What did Jesus say to Nicodemus next? Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water in the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and 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 it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit.
Jesus making a reference again to Ezekiel, the very next part of that exact same passage where Ezekiel observed the valley of dry bones. And he prophesied to the bones and instead and dead men stood up and lived.
And the winds came and filled up these men with breath, just as Jesus makes a comparison of the Holy Spirit of God with wind. You hear it sound just as Ezekiel heard the sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit of God. And then Nicodemus goes on to say, how can these things be? And Jesus answered him, are you the teacher of Israel? And yet you do not understand these things.
See, Nicodemus was supposed to get it because he knew the book of Ezekiel, probably had it memorized and taught this book to the children of Israel. And yet he didn't understand the reference that Jesus was making, that this was about more than just something that was going to happen to the children of Israel when they reentered the promised land.
This was a prophecy concerning the very way the gospel of Jesus Christ would be shared, that when they heard the good news, the word of the Lord proclaimed dead men would live again. They would be born again of the water and of the spirit of God.
Just the very fact that Jesus uses this reference to being born again should immediately clue us in to understanding that we have nothing to do with our spiritual rebirth. You made the decision to follow Jesus because God changed your heart to hear the gospel and respond to it.
Did you have anything to do with your first birth? Did you have anything to do? Did you make any decision as to whether or not you were going to be born in the first place? No, you had nothing to do with your first birth.
You have nothing to do with being born again. That is, from beginning to end, the gracious work of God. Our wonderful heavenly father, we thank you for raising us up from dead men and women who were destined for the grave.
And instead, you gave us new life and you raised us up with Christ. And more than this, you have seated us in the heavenly places so that when Christ, who is our life, appears, so we also will appear with him in glory.
Keep our eyes heavenward today, looking forward to that promise that we have in Christ Jesus of his everlasting kingdom, which we are a part of now, even while we are here on this earth. And the day is coming when our faith shall be sight.
Let that be our hope and our peace. We are discouraged by nothing today, but we have been given life in Jesus Christ and life more abundantly. And we pray this in Jesus name.
Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book.
On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on an Old Testament study, When We Understand the Text.