John Pt. 12 | John 3:1-15

The New Birth as Regeneration and Unconditional Election

Again, it's good to stand before you this morning to open God's Word together. If you would, at this time, please turn in your Bibles, get this timer, to the Gospel of John, chapter 3, we have been looking at verses 1 through 15.

The Gospel of John, chapter 3, verses 1 through 15. Oh, our dear God, Lord, we come to you in worship. We have lifted up our voices to you this day, and now we open the book, and we ask for your blessings.

Lord, speak to us through your Word, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. So if you would, look at your text with me, John chapter 3, verses 1 through 15. There was a man of the Pharisee 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 comes 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 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. Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be? Jesus answered him, are you the 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 of 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 heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

So our theme has been the new birth, and this is part three of this small series that we're looking at of this theme, the new birth. And my proposition this week is that the new birth is something that Nicodemus would have been familiar with.

Again, the new birth is something that Nicodemus would have been familiar with. Already in our passage, we have seen that the new birth is regeneration, and that regeneration is something that we don't cause to happen to ourselves, but that it's something that happens to us.

We don't have the power of regeneration. That's God's power. It happens to us through the message, the message being the gospel, speaking of Jesus Christ being both God and man, coming down in the incarnation, dying on the cross for our sins.

So he lives the perfect life as a substitute for us, dies in our place. And our response, if regeneration takes place, is that we look to God in faith and repentance. We trust in Jesus Christ. We no longer trust in ourselves, but we trust in Jesus Christ.

How do you know if you've been born again? Do you believe? Is your faith, is your trust, is your hope in what Christ has done in his life, death, burial, resurrection? In it, regeneration only happens to those whom God chose before the foundation of the world, right?

We walked through this. We looked at the doctrine of regeneration, and how the doctrine of regeneration points us to the doctrine of total depravity, and the doctrine of unconditional election. That was done the first week that we walked through this section.

Because of our sins, we don't have the capability to make spiritual decisions, right? We looked at that last week. So God in eternity past chose a people that he would save by the work of his son. And this work, accomplished by the son, was the covenant of works.

That is, that Jesus comes and he keeps the law. Someone had to fulfill where Adam failed, right? God set Adam as a covenant federal head if, scare quotes, right, Adam was able to keep the covenant, then he would have been able to eat from the tree of life.

Because of him keeping the covenant, it would have earned life for himself and for his posterity. We know that that did not happen. Adam failed, Christ comes and fulfills this covenant, because what he has done, we can have life, not because of what we can do, but because of what he has done.

If Adam would have kept the covenant, his posterity would have lived, not because of what they've done, but because of what Adam did. Adam failed. Someone has to keep the covenant. That's where God sends his son.

And we looked last week how this wasn't a plan B. This was plan A from eternity past. We saw that the kingdom of God is the reign of God through Jesus Christ in heaven on earth. Psalm 115 verse 3 says this, our God is in the heavens.

He does all that he pleases. So where's our God? He's in heaven. What does he do? Whatever he pleases. Our God is in the heavens and he does whatever he pleases. He does not need my permission, your permission, our president's permission.

He does whatever he pleases. And what we have here in the gospel of John chapter 3 in verse 2 is the teacher of Israel, namely Nicodemus, who comes to Jesus by night and he says to him, verse 2b, look at that with me real quick.

He says, rabbi, remember, as far as we know at this time, he has not sat down, sat under the teaching of Jesus. He absorbs, he absorbs signs, he hasn't sat under his teaching, calls him rabbi. He says, 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.

Notice he says, we know, not I know. He says, we know Nicodemus was a part of the Pharisees and he was also a part of the Sadducees. I mean, the Sanhedrin, right? The Sanhedrin is the, it's basically the courts of the Jews, right?

Decisions were made through the Sanhedrin. There had to be 73, it couldn't be an even number, it had to be someone, it's kind of like in the idea of the plurality of elders, right? Church functions through votes, right?

And so the Sanhedrin kind of worked in that way. They needed some, an off number that could make the vote go from one side or the other. There had to be 73 of them. Nicodemus was one of these 73. So he says, we know, this could be speaking about the Pharisees, no, the Sanhedrin, no, that you are a teacher who comes from God.

They know that he is a teacher that comes from God, why? Because of the signs. For 400 years there was no signs, there were no prophets, no one performing miracles and all of a sudden a prophet shows up and he's able to perform signs.

And so they know that he was sent from God only because of the signs, not because of the message. Speaking of the gospel of the kingdom, and although they knew that he came from God because of the signs, although they knew this, it doesn't take long for the hearts of the Pharisees to be hardened.

And we saw this last week in Matthew chapter 12. Let's turn back there. This time we won't read as many verses, let's just read verses 22 to 24. Matthew chapter 12, 22 to 24. It says, then a demon oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him.

Speaking about Jesus. And he, Jesus, healed him so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed and said, can this be the son of David? So they were looking for the son of David to come to rule, this would be their king.

But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, it is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this man cast out demons. He says, we know that you come from God. We know that you come from God. We've seen the signs.

We know. It's been 400 years. No one's been able to do what you're doing. No one could do what you're doing unless they come from God. And we just read that their hearts were hardened. No, no. This man does not cast out demons by the spirit of God, but by Beelzebub, the prince of demons.

The hearts of the Pharisees became hard. In verse three of our chapter, we see the doctrine of regeneration and the already and not yet aspects of the kingdom. And that's what we looked at last week. Look at verse three.

Jesus answered him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God unless one is born from above. He cannot, with his eyes, see the reign of God. Right. That's what it's saying.

Unless something happens to you, you're not going to be able to see what God is doing. Regeneration must precede your eyes seeing the reign of God. That is, Jesus on the throne of David, reigning on earth from heaven.

That's what the reign of God is, right? The kingdom of God is the reign of God. The reign of God is Jesus on the throne of David in heaven, ruling on earth. This speaking of the gospel of the kingdom, right?

In order for a kingdom, there needs to be a people, a land, and a king. This is why, so if you get into the eschatology talk, so dispensationalism, the reason why they reject Jesus as being king now, in one sense, is because there is no land, right?

We don't have a land all to ourselves with Jesus on the earth ruling. The gospel of the kingdom, at this time, you had the people, the Jews, they had a land. They were looking for their king. Their king comes and they reject their king just like we see in 1 Samuel.

They rejected God as their king. They wanted an earthly king to sit on an earthly throne. The gospel of the kingdom is that the kingdom is already and it's not yet. It's in your midst. He does have a people.

He does have a land. The earth is his footstool and he reigns on the throne of David in heaven, not the throne of David on earth, in heaven. That's the gospel of the kingdom, that our king came, lived the life that we could not live, died the death that we should die, was buried and rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven and he sits on his throne ruling and reigning, putting all of his enemies under his feet.

This kingdom is a kingdom in the midst of kingdoms. It's a kingdom in the midst of kingdoms. This kingdom is going to one day swallow up every kingdom on earth because every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ to be Lord.

Nicodemus and the Earthly Metaphor of the New Birth

Now this brings us to our outline for today. In our outline, we will see Jesus begins to teach Nicodemus, beginning with the earthly and moving to the heavenly. Now, Nicodemus, let me see, how can I phrase this?

An earthly metaphor is raised by Nicodemus, but Jesus takes this earthly metaphor that Nicodemus raises and he moves the conversation to the Word of God. So a metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or a phrase is applied to an object or an action to which it's not literally applicable.

The earthly metaphor that is raised by Nicodemus is an action to which it's not literally applicable. And we'll see that in verse four. So this is Nicodemus. Nicodemus said to him, now listen to this earthly metaphor that's not applicable.

How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? That has to be a metaphor. It's not something that can literally happen. Now, Nicodemus is not speaking in such a way to undermine Jesus's response to him.

I don't believe. And I don't believe that Nicodemus believed that entering into his mother's womb a second time was actually a possibility. Like I don't think that he's trying to be smart aleck or I don't think that he actually was literally believing what he was saying.

You see, Nicodemus would have understood the concept of being born again, which is our proposition for this day. But he just didn't understand it the way Jesus was explaining it. When a Gentile converted to Judaism, after their baptism, the Jews would say that this Gentile was born again.

Or they would say something like they have received their second birth, once a Jew, now a Gentile, through the circumcisions and baptisms that they undergone. Now, as much as I love the conversation of baptism, if you're around me just a little bit, you'll know that I love this conversation.

It's one of my favorite theological subjects. I do not believe baptism has anything to do with the new birth, though many throughout church history would disagree with me. So real quick, my view on baptism when it comes to the new birth is that baptism is the sign of the covenant, right?

We enter the kingdom by being born again, right? That's why it's so important. What does it mean to be born again? It's that you... Remember, I've walked through this several times. One second I don't believe, I hear the message of the gospel of the kingdom preached and all of a sudden God has given me faith to believe.

That's what I believe being born again means. I've been given faith to believe. Now that I am in the kingdom, I have been born again, I see with my eyes, I have entered that kingdom. Now what do I do?

I take the sign of baptism, right? Now this is where, as a Baptist, I would disagree with my Presbyterian brothers who bring in their natural children and apply the sign to them that have not entered into the kingdom.

You enter the kingdom by being born again. So it's kind of like the whole idea of the Jewish system is, is you're born, then you're born, and when you're born, you're born into the kingdom, God's kingdom, then you receive the sign.

New covenant, you're born again, entering the kingdom through the new birth, and then you receive the sign. The new covenant sign is baptism. Has nothing to do with the birth. After the birth, then the baptism.

After your old covenant, after your first birth, then your circumcised, new covenant, after the new birth, being born again, then you receive the sign, which is baptism. So if you look at verse four and five, and you'll kind of see why people think this.

Again, we'll read verse four, and then we'll read verse five. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born again 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.

So there are many interpretations of this text. So many, in fact, it can almost seem to be that this passage is ambiguous. But I don't believe that this text is open for more than one interpretation. You might be here today, and you have a different interpretation.

I'm telling you, I don't think that this passage is open for more than one interpretation. The Lutherans, the Churches of Christ, and many other Christian groups would point to this passage and say that it's speaking about baptism, unless one is born of water and the Spirit.

They would connect receiving the Spirit through the waters of baptism, speaking of baptismal regeneration. Some would say that, and I used to hold to this position, that water here is the natural birth.

Jesus is saying, I just laid out my case of the Presbyterian view and the Baptist view, but in the Old Covenant, when a Jew was born, then they would receive the sign. The sign would be circumcision. So the first birth, we're saying that the first birth don't count.

So here, Jesus could be saying that the natural birth is the water. So whenever a woman is pregnant, what is the baby in? Water. So the natural birth could be speaking about, I mean, the being born of water could be speaking about the natural birth.

And Jesus could be saying, well, you had to be born once, and then you got to be born again, born twice. So I used to hold to that position, but I no longer hold to that position. So since Jesus is speaking about being born again, then of course, so this was my concept.

This is what I thought, that since Jesus is speaking about being born again, then of course the first birth is what he is speaking about when he says you must be born of water. And the second birth is being born in the spirit.

So born of water, natural birth, born in the spirit, spiritual birth. That was my idea behind the concept, the interpretation that I took, which I no longer believe. I no longer believe it because there's a problem with this interpretation.

That although it can be understood by us, it would have not been understood by Nicodemus. Like this is not something at that time they would have understood. And it can't mean for us, especially something this important, right?

It can't mean for us, this is salvific right here. Something salvific can't mean for us what it didn't mean for them. So if the water and the spirit is not baptism, and it's not the first birth versus the second birth, the question is, what is it?

What does it mean to be born of the water and the spirit? Before that I want to turn your attention to the book of Ezekiel. So Ezekiel chapter 36, if you will turn there. And here we will see Jesus move the conversation to the word of God.

Nicodemus has brought up a metaphor. And Jesus has taken the metaphor and he's moving it to the word of God. And in Ezekiel 36, God names off three things done by him in this passage. One, he will sprinkle clean water on you.

Two, he gives you a new heart. And three, he will give you a new spirit. So read with me verses 25 through 27. This is God speaking. He says, I will sprinkle clean water on you. And you shall be clean from all your uncleanness.

And from your idols, I will cleanse you. And 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. And I will put my spirit within you.

And cause you to walk in my statue. So that you can be and be careful to obey my rules or my commands. Now turn with me to Titus. Paul's letter to Titus. And we've read this for the last three weeks. I want to touch on it again.

Titus 3, 5. But let's read verse 4. Titus 3, 4, and 5 says this. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared. He saved us. So what is he talking about here? When did the goodness and the loving kindness of God appear?

In Jesus Christ. Verse 5, he saved us. Not because of works done in righteousness. Think baptism. You're not saved by baptism. You're not saved by works done in righteousness. But according to his own mercy.

By the washing of regeneration. And the renewal of the Holy Spirit. So this word washing here is not baptism. The Greek word here just means a figurative baptism. It's not a water baptism. It's a figurative baptism.

Remember the word baptism doesn't always mean being dunked in water. John said of Jesus that one would come that will baptize. He said, I baptize with water. One is coming who will baptize with Holy Spirit and fire.

So the Holy Spirit baptism is not a baptism of water. Nor is the fire baptism a baptism of water. One is a baptism, which I would say that this is regeneration. This is us being born again. The baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The other one is a baptism of judgment. Those that are not born again, given the Holy Spirit. When you die, you will be judged. So that's not a water baptism. It's a figurative baptism. I walked through this and I believe it was chapter one of this gospel.

It could have been chapter two. I'm not for sure. But notice what Titus is saying. He said, He saved us not by works done in righteousness, but according to his own mercy by the washing and regeneration, the renewal of the Holy Spirit.

This is exactly what Ezekiel is talking about. That God is going to sprinkle us with clean water. This is speaking about regeneration. Remove our heart of stone. Give us a heart of flesh and put his spirit within us.

The sprinkling of clean water is regeneration. And in regeneration, God himself removes the heart of stone and gives the heart of flesh. He also puts a new spirit. And that new spirit that is speaking about is the Holy Spirit within us.

And it's by the Holy Spirit that we are able to obey the commands of God. You think that you're able to obey the commands of God? No, it's the Holy Spirit in you, right? He is our seal for the day of redemption.

The Holy Spirit, the spirit that was once in the temple, now has exited the temple and he resides in man. Those who have received Christ by faith, they have been born again. Nicodemus would have known the Jewish concept of the new birth as well as he would have known this passage in Ezekiel.

And what we witness here is the ignorance of Nicodemus when it comes to Ezekiel 36, 25 -27. Not that he didn't know it, but that he didn't understand its interpretation. Jesus is pointing to the interpretation that this is what it looks like to be born again, that God is doing something, that God is washing with water, that God himself is removing hearts of stone and giving hearts of flesh, and that God himself is sending to them the Holy Spirit which they have kept captured in the temple.

The new birth, according to Nicodemus, would have been something you could choose to happen to you. You could choose to become a Jew versus the new birth Jesus is speaking about which is something that you have no control over.

You go from not believing, hearing the message of the kingdom of God, the gospel of the kingdom, to believing. And that took place not by believing signs, but by believing the message. And as we go on to read, Jesus tells Nicodemus the message.

He does it first in an earthly way. So if you look back at our text, let's read verses 6 through 10. So John 3, 6 through 10. Listen to how he explains it. 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, you hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who was 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. Right, he did not understand the interpretation. Jesus has been trying to explain to Nicodemus the heavenly things by using earthly examples.

And speaking of the new birth, he says that which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Now what I believe he's doing here is he's identifying the kingdom of God and the new covenant.

O covenant flesh, new covenant spirit. That which is flesh is flesh, O covenant, that which is spirit is spirit, new covenant. God's earthly covenant kingdom people entered the new covenant. Remember I said it earlier, by natural birth.

And then they were given the sign circumcision. That which is flesh is flesh. If you look at Ephesians 2, verse 11, Paul says this,. Therefore remember that ye were at one time Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision.

By what is called circumcision, that which is made in the flesh by hands. This covenant sign was made in their flesh by other man's hands. This kingdom marking was a flesh. That which is flesh is flesh.

Versus God's heavenly covenant kingdom people who entered the kingdom by being born again, and then they received their new covenant sign, baptism. That which is spirit is spirit. So if you look at Colossians 2, verse 11, it says this,.

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands. The first circumcision is made with hands. This circumcision that it's speaking of, it's made without hands. By putting off the body of flesh by the circumcision of Christ.

So what is the circumcision of Christ? Is this speaking about him being taken to the temple and being circumcised? No. The context has to do with baptism, and in this baptism we find out that it's the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

That when we are baptized, we're not baptized into our own selves, we're baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, buried with him in baptism, raised with him in the newness of life.

Jesus' baptism is the death, burial, and resurrection. When someone's baptized, they're buried with him in baptism. And so the writer seems to say that this is a spiritual thing taking place. Jesus' baptism, his death, burial, and resurrection is how you and I are in Christ, and it's something that connects spiritually.

And this is why I'm a Baptist, ladies and gentlemen. I believe that as a Baptist, that we enter into this new covenant by being born again, given faith to believe, this kingdom of God. And then, not before, not when, but after that happens, we receive the sign, and what we're doing is we're receiving something that was given to Christ.

And what happened to him, we're saying it's happening to us. But it's not really happening to us, right? I mean, I'm not being nailed to a tree. I'm not dying for your sins. But our baptism says that what happened to him happens to me.

When he died, I died. When he was buried, I was buried. When he rose, I rose. It's spiritual. That which is spirit is spirit. The kingdom of God, what takes place is a transition of the covenant. It's not a transition of the kingdom.

It's a transition of the covenant. If the old covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, was the covenant of grace, then there would be no need for a new covenant. Why? Because the Abrahamic covenant was made with the physical seed of Abraham.

That which is flesh is flesh. If there's no new covenant, then it's still only that which is flesh is flesh. That means that Paul was wrong when he was telling the Gentiles not to be circumcised. But because the covenant of grace is made with the spiritual descendants of Abraham, that is with those who have the faith of Abraham, the new covenant kingdom of God, and we see this in Romans 4, Galatians 3, Galatians 4, that it's the spiritual descendants of Abraham that this covenant is cut with, that the covenant of grace was promised in Genesis 3 .15, it was carried through the physical descendants of Abraham, and it was delivered in the fullness of time when God sent his son.

But that it was a promise only, that the promise of the covenant of grace was that the offspring of the woman would come and bruise the head of the serpent while only bruising his heel. So there was a promise given, and then there was a fulfillment that what it would look like when the promise was fouling here, and that was that the one who would bruise the head of the serpent would bruise his heel, and that is exactly what happened in the crucifixion.

So what we have to understand is if there's no crucifixion, there is no covenant of grace. All those in the Old Testament, Old Covenant that were saved, they were saved because of what Jesus Christ did when he brought the covenant of grace, the new covenant.

Jesus attempts here to explain to Nicodemus the kingdom of God by using something he knows exists, which is wind. Because he cannot see the wind with his eyes, right? You can't see wind. But you can see the effects of wind.

You can look out your window and see trees blowing, leaves blowing. You can see the effects of the wind, but you can't see wind itself. And Jesus is saying, so too it is with the kingdom of God. You can't see the kingdom of God, but you can see the effects of the kingdom of God.

You can see a group of people growing and growing larger and larger, moving in the works of God. But Nicodemus did not understand this. Let's look at verse 9 of our text, verse 9. Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be?

He didn't understand. Jesus answered him, are you the teacher of Israel and you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we bear witness of what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.

If I have told you earthly things, that which is flesh is flesh, speaking about the wind, but you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? He's like, look, I'm speaking to you.

I'm condescending to your own language and trying to explain something to you, and you do not understand. How then will you understand if I explain heavenly things? Now remember, I'm talking about Jesus' baptism being something spiritual.

He's like, well, how did that happen? He literally was crucified, right? Right here we're about to see Jesus speak to Nicodemus heavenly things. So up until this point, Jesus has been speaking to Nicodemus earthly things and trying to explain the kingdom of God, but now he's going to speak to him heavenly things.

And we see this in verses 13 through 15. So remember, Jesus' baptism was something spiritual for the new covenant. Listen to the heavenly things that actually happened in time on earth. Verse 13, no one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the son of man.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Now, ladies and gentlemen, right here is the meat. This is the meat of the message of the heavenly things.

They, the Pharisees, most notably Nicodemus, believed because of the signs that Jesus was doing. Here, under the message, he's either given faith to believe or he isn't. Right here is where Jesus really owns in.

You believe because you saw signs? Well, now I'm going to give you the message by which salvation comes. And God either transforms his life or he doesn't. That's what it comes down to. And I believe that the message that he's going to be proclaiming to Nicodemus is found in verses 13 through 21, and we will cover those verses next week.

Jesus, in this section of Scripture, has been... This section of Scripture that we've been looking at, Jesus has referenced the new birth five times. Five times. Five times Jesus tells Nicodemus that the new birth is non-negotiable.

You must be born again. Verse 3, verse 5, verse 6, verse 7, verse 8. Five times he referenced the new birth. You must be born again. Something has to happen. You're entering the covenant of God through your natural birth.

Mm-mm. No. It's no good. The new covenant has come. Something else has to happen. You have to be born from above. Your first birth has only entered you into condemnation and the justice of God. Keep the law in order to live.

Do not keep the law, and you will be punished. You will be removed from your land. Jesus comes, keeps the law, lives a life we could not live. As goes the king, so goes the kingdom for those that have been born again.

It's spiritual. Our physical brains, minds can't understand this. He could not understand this at this time. You can't see it unless you're born again. It's non-negotiable. You must be born again. Briefly now, I want to go, and I'll go in depth next week.