You Must Be Born Again

You can do a lot of spiritual things and still be completely wrong about what saves you. That’s the tension at the heart of John 3, where Jesus looks past Nicodemus’ credentials, reputation, and religious effort and tells him something shocking: you must be born again to see the kingdom of God.

We walk line by line through Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus and unpack what “born again” actually means in the Bible. We talk about regeneration, why church attendance and rule keeping can’t create spiritual life, and how “water and the Spirit” connects to God’s promise in Ezekiel 36 to cleanse us and give us a new heart. We also wrestle with the wind illustration, why we can’t control the Holy Spirit, and how genuine change becomes visible through spiritual fruit like love, joy, peace, and patience.

Then we land on the good news that makes tired people breathe again: God saves by grace, not by our performance. John 3:16 and John 3:17 show a Savior who comes to rescue, not condemn, and a simple call to faith in Jesus Christ that brings forgiveness, eternal life, and real peace with God. If you’ve been striving, doubting, or quietly afraid of hearing “I never knew you,” this message points you back to the finished work of the cross.

If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend who’s worn out from trying to be “good enough,” and leave a review. What part of John 3 do you struggle to believe most?

Transcript

Welcome And Opening Remarks

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All right. Good morning, church. I'm happy to be here this morning. I'm uh filling in while Pastor John and Pac-Man are away. Uh I am not them, but I will do my best to faithfully share the word of God. Um so yeah, I'm just I'm really grateful to be up here today. And so if we could just open God's word together and you turn your Bibles to John chapter 3.

The Oil Change That Went Wrong

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Have you ever had an experience where you thought you knew what you were doing, confident in your understanding of something that completely humbled you, and you realize you were all wrong. I had a moment like this once where I was doing an oil change on my wife's car. I've been doing oil changes on my own vehicles for at least four years at the time, and this was just another oil change. I put her Subaru on ramps, chucked the tires, proceeded to drain the oil from the oil pan, and replace the oil filter. As well as fill it back up with the five quarts of engine oil that it called for. I cleaned up any mess I made, started the car, and decided to take it for a short drive like I usually do to make sure everything's in proper order. As soon as I took the car off the ramps and went to put it in drive, there was a horrible grinding noise and a shutter on the car. And I thought to myself, What was that? I then further tested the issue by giving it some gas, and the car was not shifting properly at all. Something was terribly wrong. I got a sinking feeling in my stomach, and I realized I'd made a big mistake. Something that I had done plenty of times over the years, even on this car, and somehow it had all gone wrong. So I limped the car back into the driveway, turned it off, and I started to think about what I could have possibly done wrong. I knew it had to be related to the work I'd just done, and so it could likely be fixed without too much trouble. It was late and it was getting dark, and so I went inside and told Christy, my wife, the car was in no shape to drive and that something had gone wrong. I ended up getting the car towed to a local shop that I trust, and they found that there was double the usual amount of oil in the engine, about 10 quarts, and there was no transmission fluid. Do you see what I did wrong? I drained the transmission fluid, and I didn't even realize it because it was so black, it had the consistency of oil. And because I didn't expect anything or uh suspect anything, I poured the new oil into the engine with the old oil. $300 later, and some new oil trans and new oil and transmission fluid, and the car was more or less back to normal. Quite the expensive mistake that I'd made while I was trying to save us money. I'd assumed that I knew what I was doing because of my experience, and I was taken by surprise when I realized just how wrong I was. Needless to say, I haven't made that same mistake again.

Why Assumptions Can Cost Everything

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I think sometimes this can represent where we're at in our faith. Maybe we assume that we're right with God because we attend church on Sunday. Or maybe we believe that God is real and that's enough. Maybe you grew up in church as a kid and so you're comfortable staying in the same place that you've been at spiritually for years. Because it's what you know. And maybe it seems like when you see other believers living out their faith, it seems like they take it a little too seriously. Might I warn you that this could end up costing everything if we don't understand what it actually takes to be a child of God. So today I hope we can break down this passage together and you can leave confident in your faith, knowing for sure what kingdom that you belong to, to the kingdom of darkness or to the kingdom of heaven. Today we're going to read about Jesus' interaction with Nicodemus, a man who would likely had made some assumptions about his own standing with God based on what he knew. He believed he was a child of God on principle, because he was born into it, born into the Jewish people, and he trained as a rabbi, which is a teacher. And Jesus challenges that understanding with a simple statement that he made. And I'm sure Nicodemus questioned everything he knew about being a child of God and what kingdom he actually belonged to.

Prayer And Reading John 3

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If you'd please join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord God, that we get to be here today to gather, to hear from your word. Father, I just pray that you would uh work in this time through your Holy Spirit and you would teach us new things, and you'd help us to grow in our walk with you. And I thank you, Lord, for how you've helped me to grow through studying these things. Father, I pray that you would bless this time. I pray that you would be glorified and lifted up, and I pray the takeaways would be strong and that we could apply it to our lives, that it might bring fruit to you. In Jesus' name. Amen. So we're going to read John chapter 3, starting verses 1 through 7. So if you have your Bibles, you can follow along, or it's on the screen. Hopefully you can hopefully that's legible. Um 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're a teacher, come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. And 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's old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered him, 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 born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again. Now I'm sure most of you have heard of the term born again. Because even if this is your first time here today, most people know it. Jesus said, We can't see the kingdom of God without being born again. So it's extremely important that we understand what Jesus is saying

You Must Be Born Again

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here. So that brings me to my first point. You must be born again. Nicodemus is described by John as a ruler of the Jews. He was a leader in the Sanhedrin, which was a Jewish legislative, judicial, and religious council in Israel. It was composed of seventy elders, scribes, Sadducees, Pharisees, and the high priest who was in charge of them all. And they had strong influence and jurisdiction over Jewish civil and religious matters. So Nicodemus was called the teacher of Israel, and yet he acknowledges Jesus as a rabbi. Even though it was known that Jesus had not received any formal rabbinic training. This is a big deal. This training was rigorous and often involved memorizing large sections of Scripture and being discipled at a young age by other rabbis. What I think is worth mentioning is that Nicodemus clearly respected Jesus and thought well of him. Even attributed that God was with Jesus. But there's still a disconnect that prevented him from truly knowing God. Nicodemus said that no one can do the signs that Jesus does unless God is with him. And what's interesting about that is Nicodemus says, We know that you are a teacher from God. So this would indicate that he's speaking on behalf of other members of the Sanhedrin, even though he chose to meet with Jesus at night. So it's clear that the motive for meeting at night was to be secretive. Or sorry, it's not clear whether it was to be secretive or not. But for us believers, we shouldn't be ashamed of our faith in acknowledging Jesus before others. Jesus redirects the claim that Nicodemus made about him. He gets right to the heart of the matter. Have you ever experienced this in your walk with the Lord? When you bring to him a request or you're seeking wisdom, and instead you feel that he's dealing with you on the way that you talk to someone today, or that you should forgive someone. And then after that you feel like you can get on to your request. Jesus said to Nicodemus, You must be born again to see the kingdom of God. This was an earthly analogy that Jesus used to explain the heaven reality of being spiritually born into God's kingdom and his family. Nicodemus would have likely believed he was already a part of God's kingdom through his physical birth, his natural birth. But Jesus said, You must be born again. It has nothing to do with your physical birth. It's spiritual. Now I personally, in the past, before I was a Christian, believed in God, and I was hoping for the best that I could make it into heaven. I didn't really have a benchmark against anything that could let me know if I was going to make the cut. I guess I just believed that if I did enough good things, that it would be enough and God would kind of overlook my sin. Or even now as a believer, I can sometimes put way too much emphasis on my performance when that isn't what caused me to be born again and have eternal life. I heard in a John MacArthur sermon on John 3 that we've about as much to do with being born again as we did when we were actually born. We didn't really have a part in it at all. It's the work of the Spirit of God. In John chapter 6, 63, Jesus teaches that it is the Holy Spirit who gives us this life. It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh is no help at all. The words that I've spoken to you are spirit and life. So it's clear that this process of being born again is not about going to church or reading the Bible or praying enough, as I'm confident that Nicodemus was doing all those things. And he believed he was in the game, so to speak. But after this encounter with the Lord, Nicodemus must have realized he was in the bleachers spiritually all along, just a spectator and not actually on the team. Jesus said in John 3, verse 5, unless one is born of the water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. So again, he's doubling down on this. Most theologians are agree that it's not referencing being baptized, but rather it's referring to the regeneration of the heart and our spirit, as seen in Ezekiel 36. This allows us to go from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God through salvation that is freely offered in Jesus Christ. We need a new spiritual life, and we need cleansing. Ezekiel 36, 25 through 26 says, I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from your impurities and your idols, and I'll give you a new heart, and I'll put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Giving thanks to the Father. So this is that's Ezekiel 36, and then Colossians 1, 12-14 says, Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. So these verses, they show us what happens when a believer is born again. Like practically, what happens. Spiritually, what happens? And most important, Jesus said that unless you're born again, you can't see the kingdom of God. This literally means you cannot enter his kingdom unless you're born again. It's an essential foundation in our faith in Christ. And upon this regeneration, your new spiritual life can begin. Without it, we're dead in our sin. So now we know for sure we must be born again to see the kingdom of God.

The Wind And The Spirit

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That brings me to my second point.

Water And Spirit Regeneration

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The wind and the spirit. So we'll continue reading here. We'll go to verse eight. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you don't know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus said, 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 to what we've seen. But you do not receive our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you did not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? This teaching from Jesus was difficult for Nicodemus to grasp, as he's struggling to understand what that Jesus was using earthly means of communication to convey the spiritual truth behind salvation. But like we saw in Ezekiel, the biblical standing for these claims can be found in the Old Testament. And if anyone should have been qualified to know or understand such things, it should have been Nicodemus. So Jesus often taught in parables with earthly things and themes, so that people who believed could grasp the spiritual implications. The teachings are simple yet profound. Simple enough that a child can understand it, but complex enough that it leaves many scholars wondering about the mysteries of God. In verse 8, Jesus said, The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. And he relates this wind to the Spirit of God. We can't see the Spirit or where he goes, but we can see the effects he has in a person's life. This comparison to the wind indicates that we don't have control over the Spirit of God, nor do we know where he comes from or where he's going. We don't fully understand the ways of the Holy Spirit. But what is clear is that we don't cause ourselves to be born again. It's the work of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. Have you ever seen this power at work in another believer's life? And maybe you've wondered why these things are lacking in your own. Do you see joy? Do you see peace? Answered prayers, faithfulness? Do you see them boldly living out their faith? Not perfectly, but genuinely before God and others. Galatians five, verses twenty two through twenty-three says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. And against such things there are no law. And so that fruit that's being born within us through the power of the Holy Spirit, you can see it. And you can see it in believers' lives. So this is good news. This is available to all of us who are born again. These signs will follow those who are born again and have received the Holy Spirit. In verse 12, the Lord says, I told you earthly things, and you do not believe. The deeper issue here is that Nicodemus didn't yet fully believe in Jesus. But I personally think that he came to believe in him later, as he helped with burying Jesus after his crucifixion, and he anointed him with very expensive myrrh, spices, and aloes, which was the burial custom of the Jews. That's a public display of faith. That's pretty bold at the time. He had a lot to lose. So now we know we must be born again, and we know what happens to us after we're born again. And that brings me to my last point.

How Can I Be Born Again

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Are you born again or are you tired? I hope that at this point a couple things have become clear. We need to be born again, and that there's clear evidence that follows those who have been. That leaves us with the most important part of today's message. How can I be born again? So let's continue reading John 3. This is verses 13 through 17. No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, and whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. He states in verse 13, No one has ascended into heaven except he who has descended from heaven, the Son of Man. What he's saying here is that he is from heaven. In fact, earlier in John chapter 1, John tells us that Jesus is the one who created the universe. So his testimony about heaven and his teachings, they're true. And he is qualified to teach on these things from first hand experience as the Creator. How amazing it must have been to be standing before the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings who came down from heaven to serve his people. How amazing is our God that he would subject himself to such hostility from the very people he came to save. He was regarded as lower than the angels for a little while, so that we could have eternal life. And the people asked Moses to pray for them when they realized they had sinned. And Moses prayed for the people, and God told Moses to make a bronze snake, and to put it on a pole, and when anyone was bitten by the snake, they looked at the bronze snake, and they lived. Jesus was also lifted up, and anyone who looks to him in repentance and puts their faith in him alone can be saved. That snake bite represents sin and spiritual death, which Jesus alone can deliver us from. Now for one of the most well-known verses in the entire Bible is John 3 16. For God so loved the world that he gave. I like to pause there sometimes as I think about the significance of this. That he gave us his son, his only son. The son that created the universe, the son that volunteered to take our place on the cross. Infinitely. And he gave his only son. Think about that. Let that encourage you. That whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. So this verse right here is quoted much less often, but verse 17 follows it and says, For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. For God so loved that he gave. What a beautiful message of the gospel. The good news of Jesus Christ. That's what gospel means. Good news. This is good news. If you're here today and you're feeling tired, you're tired of the same routine, you're tired of striving to earn God's love. You're tired of not feeling like you're good enough. You're tired of trying to be the best Christian you can, but nothing seems to be working. Or you're afraid that God doesn't want you? Or worse, that on judgment day he'll say, I never knew you. This is likely the struggle that Nicodemus had after this encounter. Would he trust in everything that he knew in his former life? And what he'd been doing to try and seek God and earn his way and all his religious works? Or would he just do it on God's terms and surrender and put his faith in Christ? So if he did put his faith in Christ, and not his own righteousness, then we will see him in heaven one day. Jesus did what we Couldn't. He lived perfectly. He didn't sin once. He kept all of God's commandments and he died in our place. And he rose again on the third day, defeating

Rest From Striving Trust Christ

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sin and death. It's this simple. If we believe that what Jesus did on the cross was for us, we can be cleansed and forgiven. We need to put our faith in him alone and not in ourselves. And we will be saved. We have the promise of being born again, spiritually cleansed, and we'll have the ability to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and we'll be given a new heart with good desires, and we'll be able to carry them out. This is good news. I personally needed this reminder while I was working on this sermon because I fall short every single day. And while writing it, I was just reminded of the fact that it's finished. The work has been done on the cross. I can rest from my endless striving, and I can trust in my Savior. I am his and he is mine. I'm a child of God by faith in Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit. I didn't earn it. I can't earn it. I was born again by his grace, and I don't have to try and be good enough. I have peace with God. Romans 5 1 says, Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So now I live for him. And you can too. If this is resonating with anyone here today and they're not sure if they've truly been born again, can I encourage you that today is the day for you to be born again? Because without it, we would do all these things in vain. Church attendance won't save you. Reading your Bible will not save you. Or trying to keep all of God's commandments won't save you. Just faith in God's only Son. That is the essential foundation. And if it's missing, we have no part in God. We belong to the only other kingdom, the kingdom of darkness, which is a place where those who don't want his free gift will spend their eternity separate from God. So please don't miss the call that God has on your life. Once you're born again, now you're empowered to live a life of keeping God's commandments because that is essential. And those good works prove the faith that you have. Not everyone will accept this call. In fact, the road to destruction is wide, and there are many on it, according to Jesus in Matthew 7, verse 13. And in verse 21, later in that chapter, Jesus said, Not everyone who comes to me, sorry, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. So what is the will of our Father in heaven? Jesus Father. John 6 40 says, For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day. So for those of you who struggle with believing that Jesus will say to you, I never knew you, maybe because you feel like you're not holy enough, let me comfort you with this. He said, I never knew you. Meaning the relationship didn't begin. So if you've truly put your faith in him and you are born again and you're bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life, please rest in Jesus and what he did, not in your own righteousness. That is not what saved you, nor can it ever be. Your righteousness cannot save you. It's always been about him and how he saved us. That's the error that people made when they came to him in Matthew 7, right before this verse. They came to him referencing all the things they did for him. Instead of doing what he commanded us to do. Put our faith in him so we can have a real, intimate relationship with God. And then once you're born again, that's how you get to know him. You get to walk with him faithfully and invite him into your day-to-day. You wake up and you thank him for the sunrise. You thank him for the grass that's green and blooming. You thank him for the breath in your lungs. You thank him for the amazing things he's given us. We walk with him. We invite him in. And you can ask him, God, how can I obey you today? God, how can you use me today? Please give me opportunities to be faithful. And I can promise you this every time I've asked God for those opportunities, he has always answered it in some significant way. And I am always humbled to realize how involved our God is in our lives. He delights in you. He really cares for you, believer. So please, if there's anything to take away from this, have confidence in your Savior. If he said the work is done, it's done. If you're born again, you made the you've been made right with God, and you've been accepted into his family and adopted forever. God never lies and he never makes mistakes. So trust in him, and you will have rest for your soul.

Closing Prayer And Worship

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Let's pray. Heavenly Father, if there's anyone here today, Lord, that doesn't know you, or who isn't sure if they're born again, I pray today would be that day. I pray today that people would reach out, Lord, and realize and acknowledge their sin before you, that they've fallen short just like we all have, and we've sinned, and one day you are coming back, and that day is soon. And I pray that today would be the day that we get right with you, Lord, that we put our trust in you alone for salvation, not in what we do. And I pray you'd continue to remind me of this truth, because I need it every day to remember that I'm yours and you are mine. And anyone here who puts their trust in you can have that same promise, the promise of the Holy Spirit, the promise of being born again, the promise of eternal life with you and all the other believers. So we thank you for the sacrifice you made to make this possible on the cross. We thank you that you love the world so much that you gave your only son. And Jesus, thank you for being faithful and doing what the Father had for you. Even in the toughest moments, Lord, you you you saw through to the other side because of the joy set before you, you endured the cross. So we can endure the trials of this life. I pray you'd help the people here, Lord, who are struggling, who are hurting, who need you, who need reconciliation, who need your love. I pray, Lord, that they would invite you more into their life, and I pray you'd help them and you'd bless them, and that most importantly, they would grow in their relationship with you and maybe start it today for the first time. Thank you so much for everything you've done, Lord. We love you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So now we could just close with a song of worship.