1There Was a Man of the Pharisees Named Nicodemus, a Ruler of the Jews

You Must Be Born Again

John 3:1-5

1There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2This 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.” 3Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”. 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

INTRODUCTION

I remember an old-time song by Roberta Martin. It was a favorite of my mother…

What is this idea of spiritual rebirth? How does it work, and how does it come about. Millions, dare I say, billions of people on the planet today are seeking the very thing that Jesus offered 2000 years ago and still offers today. The problem is that many seek for their rebirth in all the wrong places…When that happens they begin to venture down a path that only leads to darkness, confusion despair, poverty and death. They find the very opposite of the thing for which they so desperately strive in vain.

To seek and find God is the greatest accomplishment a person can achieve

If you attended our Men’s group Wed study you learned how important this spiritual birth is. There are only two sides and there are no inactive bystanders. You are either fighting for God and His will, or you are in the camp of the enemy. Consequently, there are only two paths in this world. There is God’s way and there is Satan’s way.

MAIN IDEA:When we are born again life is not always what we expect, but we are changed by the Holy Spirit in preparation to be with God

1)Being born again is more than acknowledging Jesus’ miracles and teaching.

Thomas Jefferson is a person many consider a great man. Many think of him as a Christian man because of the kind of words he used in the Declaration of Independence such as “endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights…”However, certain other aspects of his life seem to contradict this view. His relationship with his slaves.... another was the fact that Jefferson edited his own version of the Bible …And in his version, he only included the moral teachings of Jesus… In fact, the closing words of his Bible are these. “There they laid Jesus and rolled a great stone at the mouth of the sepulcher and departed”… Yes Jefferson admits that Jesus was a great teacher…good person, but he was unable to commit himself to anything deeper.Thomas Jefferson was not alone in his thinking…the vast majority of this kind of thought comes directly from a lack of understanding about Jesus.

Nicodemus also had a limited understanding. He was a leader, a member of the religious governing council. Nicodemus was a religious man…a teacher of scripture. Yet his understanding was limited to what he could see with his natural eyes. Still what little he was able to see sparked an internal craving for something deeper…Nicodemus comes to Jesus in quest of it, but comes “by night”; he avows his conviction that He was “come from God”— This is an expression never applied to a merely human messenger, and probably meaning more here—but still only as “a teacher,” and in His miracles he sees a proof merely that “God is with Him.” Thus, while unable to repress his convictions, he too is afraid of committing himself too far.

Application: We must feed our spirits with the deeper relationship it craves with intimacy with Jesus

Our spirits want a deeper spiritual relationship with God as a natural part of Spiritual development, but Satan places so many distractions out there that we can seek spiritual meaning in anything but the truth. We can seek spiritual meaning in false religions and philosophies…trying to do good work…non-spiritual self improvement

Even some people who call themselves Christians are missing the deeper spiritual relationship required to see God. They’ve been going to church since they were born. They were baptized as children because their parents said it was time… Like Nicodemus. They know that Jesus is come from God. They see how Jesus can heal. They can get all emotional on Sunday, but still they have never been born again

Doing religious things does not make a relationship, but being born again does…paying your tithes…coming to church out of some sense of obligation…simply being baptized…Just saying that you are a Christian…

2)Jesus makes it clear that being born again is the only path to finding that deeper relationship

3Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”.

There are two essentialideas that are associated with eternal life that are contained in this verse. The first is the idea of being born again and the second is an understanding of the kingdom of God. In our study of scripture in general and in Revelation in particular, we see that the kingdom of God is currently not of this world…but one day it will be a real and physical kingdom established here on earth…

But in order to see the kingdom in any of its forms you must undergo this process of being born again. In essence, being born again is being converted from having an earthly sinful nature, to having a heavenly, and holy nature. And it is that holy nature that must be attained in order to see the kingdom of God. The alternative is eternal death instead of eternal life…eternal torment instead of eternal peace…the eternal absence of God instead of the presence of God…in short, the alternative is hell instead of heaven.

This knowledge was the turning point in the conversation with Nicodemus. It was intended to help him begin to examine his own life in terms of his relationship with his God

Application: We must each examine ourselves to evaluate our own relationship with God

During the French Revolution, Louis XVI and his beautiful wife were killed on the guillotine. Their son, who was already registered in the rolls as Louis XVII, was taken prisoner.

The people wanted revenge of a worse kind. The child was not only to be kept a prisoner and forever deprived of his right to reign, whatever good in him was to be destroyed.

And so, they placed him under the tutelage of evil men who trained his mind to evil thoughts, his heart to evil designs, and his lips to speak all sorts of evil words. But now and again, the unhappy boy would grasp for higher things and exclaim in anguish: “I can’t say it, I can’t do it, for I was born to be a king!”

2 Corinthians 13:5 (NASB95) 5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?

Let us test ourselves here.

How often have you made a conscious decision because you have been born again?

How often do you put your faith ahead of your understanding? How often do you sought out heavenly things as opposed to earthly

Romans 12:2 (NASB95) 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

3)A born again relationship involves a Spiritual transformation

4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Being born of water represents natural birth by way of amniotic fluid... Being born of the spirit represents the spiritual rebirth that transforms the carnal into the Spiritual. 2 Cor 5:17 If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things passed away, all things have become new

Police Chief Donald Wolford of Spencer, Iowa, believes that “when anyone has a complete reversal of character from one week to the next there is something wrong with him.” The man he has in mind is Officer Kenneth Trevithick, 25, a formerly foul-mouthed boozer who got converted while vacationing in California.

Trevithick came back to work with a Bible and plenty of Jesus-talk for speechless fellow officers. No profanity. No booze.

Wolford suspended him for alleged “disobedience of orders” and “failure to properly perform duties.” But the Civil Service Commission reinstated him, scolding the city for improperly obtaining reports of his mental condition. The commission then ordered a new brief suspension, saying the policeman should have obeyed an order not to read the Bible while on duty. Trevithick concedes he may have been a little too zealous on the job.

Application: If we are truly born again there will a noticeable change in our lives

When Mary Magdalene was converted, there was a change…When the disciples were converted, there was a change…when Paul was converted, there was a change

The problems in the church is that there whole lot of religion, but not enough conversion

If you’ve been born again the Holy Ghostyour priorities…John 3:8 (NASB95) 8 “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

When the Holy Ghost sets your priorities, He takes you where He wants you to go

You can’t spend time at the cross and not be transformed. You can’t place your faith in Jesus…If your spend enough time on you knees…spend enough time seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirt…spend enough time in praise…

Ezekiel saw a valley of dry bones. He said, “Lord can these bones live?” I’m here to tell you that even dry bones can live, if they’ve been born again.

Being born again is deliverance from guilt…deliverance from shame…adoption into the family of God…a seat at the table…refuge from the storm…peace in a time of sorrow…every tear will be wiped away

CONCLUSION and INVITATION

Ask yourself today, “What is it that my Spirit craves?” Have I found it in the things I’ve committed my life to’? But most importantly, Are the things to which I am committed, Leading me to see the kingdom of God? Seeing that kingdom takes more than acknowledging Jesus and His teachings. It requires a deeper spiritual relationship than simple intellectual understanding. Jesus makes it abundantly clear that in order to see the kingdom of God, there must be a spiritual transformation that He calls being born again. In the Greek it means not only being born a second time, but being born from above. Each of us must do some self examination. Have I really been born again?...If you have, you can tell by the transformation that has occurred in your life. If you’ve been born again, then you have given control of it over to the Holy Spirit of God. Have you given control to the Spirit? When we are born again life is not always what we expect, but we are changed by the Holy Spirit in preparation to be with God