Everybody, and I mean everybody, is caught in the gravitational pull of the social black hole. It has us all. Everyone must care about the social approval of others, at least to some degree. Now, some folks I admire and aspire to be more like operate at a much higher orbit, much further from the heart of that social gravitational pull. And really, the only reason that they care about what other people think or they almost always just care about what other people think for the benefit of others and serve others. A whole lot of people like me live a lot closer to the heart of the gravitational, social approval black hole. And sometimes we care about what other people think for the good of other people, and sometimes we care about what other people think because of our own insecurity and weirdnesses. But Jesus transcends all of that. The only person ever to fully exist apart from needing the social approval of others. Jesus didn't entrust himself to them because he knew all men. He did not need man's testimony about a man, for he knew what was in a man. That's the very end of John chapter two. In John chapter three, speaking of a man, here's a man, Nicodemus the Pharisee and Jesus have a conversation. So what is the nature of this conversation that has just been framed up by John between the end of chapter two and the beginning of chapter three? Well, it's a little chit-chat, a little tete between someone like you and me, who is firmly caught in the gravitational field of the social approval black hole around which we all orbit, and someone who transcends that. What does that conversation look like? What does it look like when a very sophisticated yet normal person caught in the gravity field interacts with someone who is also very sophisticated, but isn't caught in that gravity field? Well, we get a sense of it. Unsurprisingly, the one from the outside, the one from beyond, is running circles around the one like you and me, who's caught in the gravitational field, but you get the impression that Nicodemus is sincere. He doesn't quit on Jesus in the conversation, and Jesus doesn't quit on him in the conversation. Nicodemus opens by saying something nice. Jesus replies, I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he's born again. Nicodemus sincerely responds, I don't get it. That doesn't seem possible. Jesus answers, I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he's born of water and the spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, you must be born again. The wind blows wherever it pleases, you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it's going. So it is with everyone born of the spirit. And Nicodemus is like, I still don't get it. How can this be? Now at this point, I think we've had enough time staring at Jesus' response there, and we have the benefit of history and the whole Bible neatly bound up right in front of us. And we can search for things on the internet, we can call people who've been around it more and ask them questions. We can kind of decipher this with the benefit of hindsight and all these God-provided resources that we have. Whereas poor Nicodemus, he's trying to do this on the fly. Again, you know, maybe he should have known the passages that were being referenced. Maybe he should have connected the dots. Jesus seems to think so, but I certainly would not have done better than Nicodemus in this situation. So what is Jesus saying in this second remark he makes to Nicodemus? Well, I don't think it's that tough. I think he's saying nobody can enter the kingdom of God unless he's born of water and the spirit. Well, what's water and the spirit? I mean, it's all over the Old Testament. Water and the Spirit is a theme that comes up in the early going of Genesis. I mean, Genesis 1, 2. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Existence in its primitive form has these two images. I mean, this is the first stuff that is there on screen. It's it's God and it's his spirit hovering over the waters. Everything else is formless and dark. This is some of the first form or specificity we get in all of the history of existence ever. And that spirit, which in Greek, spirit and breath, pneuma, I mean, the word is interchangeable. You have to use context to figure out whether the Greek word means breath or spirit in a given situation. And the two overlap even as we move ahead in Genesis. In Genesis 2, 7, the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. That idea of the breath of God giving life and giving truth for all scripture is God breathed. And it's useful for a whole bunch of different stuff. The idea, well, go back to Ezekiel 37, right? We spent time in Ezekiel a couple of days ago. 37 is the story of the valley of the dry bones. Ezekiel 37, 4. God takes Ezekiel to this valley full of dry bones. And he's like, Well, what do you make of that? And Ezekiel's like, I oh, sovereign Lord, you alone know. Then God said to Ezekiel, Prophesy to these bones and say to them, Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. This is what the sovereign Lord says to these bones. I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin. I will put breath in you, and then you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord. And then that happens, and then through the rest of Ezekiel, there's a vision of the prediction of the rebuilding of the temple and this future glory of God and the redemption of people and all things. I mean, what's Jesus saying in John 3 when he invokes that kind of imagery? He's talking about how God is the giver of life, how God breathes life into that which is dead, how life is owned by God alone, and how life is attached to the spirit, the spirit of God. You know, there's an analogy here. You must be born again. And Jesus is like Nicodemus. You shouldn't be surprised by saying you must be born again. And then Jesus kind of uses this triple imagery of wind and breath and spirit. He says, The wind blows wherever it pleases, you hear its sound, but you can't tell where it comes from or where it's going. So it is with everyone born of the spirit. The life of God is beyond your control, Nicodemus. This giving of life is given freely by God. It is the gift of God. He is the one who gives birth, who gives life. It's by the power of his spirit. This imagery has been all over the New Testament. I think if you look closely, I mean, it's pretty much into focus. But now all of that imagery about water and rebirth and life and spirit and the gift of God that is life and redemption, all of that is taking shape. It's coming into focus in Jesus. Nicodemus, as we've talked about now for a week, says, How can this be? He still doesn't get it. Jesus, as we've talked about for a week now, says, You're Israel's teacher and you don't understand these things. But then the conversation continues. And maybe at this point, you're like, I don't, I'm not ready for the conversation to continue, bro. I'm with Nicodemus. I still don't get all this stuff about entering the kingdom of God, and you have to be reborn and water and spirit, and there's flesh that fits in there somehow, and the wind blows, and the spirit is born of the spirit. I don't get it. Hey, uh, that is okay. Jesus speaks very cryptically in comment number one to Nicodemus in this conversation. I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he's born again. Well, that's tough. I need a little more to go on. Nicodemus is like, could I don't more, please? And then you get the second set of remarks from Jesus, which are less cryptic. There's more explanation, more biblical imagery. We've gone and pulled on that thread together. But it's perfectly reasonable for you and I to get to the end of that and say it's still not tightly pulled into focus. I maybe get it a little better now. God gives life, and there's stuff in some prophets and maybe Genesis. It kind of points to how he does it and what it looks like when he does it, but I still don't get what it means for me. How do I be born again? How do I enter the kingdom of God? How do people I love enter the kingdom of God? I know, Matt Whitman, I'm not ready to move forward into the next thing because that isn't specific enough, and it seems like it's very, very important. But my friend, I think we are ready to move into the next thing because each of the three comments of Jesus in this conversation, and there are only three, both sides get three remarks. We're now done with all three of Nicodemus's. The final word in this conversation is Jesus' third remark. It's the longest remark of the whole conversation, and it's the most specific. It's the one that is going to spell it out for people like you and me, who maybe after Jesus' remark one and Jesus remark two are like, I we're moving in the right direction, but I still don't have it. I could really use some more specificity here. Jesus, I'd like to be in the kingdom, I'd like to have life, please. Could you please give me more? The answer is yes, he can. And I know that for like three days I've been in saying, and now we're gonna talk about it. And then I keep not. Dang it. Well, next time around, we actually are. I feel like we're properly there now. We're ready for the third round of specificity. Nicodemus is ready for the third round of Jesus' remarks that I think really do pull this thing into focus in a way that answers the question, not just academically or theologically for you and me. Like, how do I how do I be in God? How do I have the life of God? How do I be born again? Not just the academic question, but the actual human question that everyone should ask, that I ask. Okay, well, we'll hear Jesus on it. I promise this time, next time around. Matt, this is the 10-minute Bible hour podcast. Let's do this again soon.