Do You Really Know Jesus? #2: New Birth
Text John 3:1-18
Introduction:
Joke: True story, a doctor in Texas during the late 1800’s
heard that a patient of his had gotten religion, been “born again.” The man owed the good doctor a bit of money
so the doctor thought this would be a good time to collect on the bill. He road out to the former drunkard, now a
Christian’s house. He met the man on
his front porch. “Howdy, Tom” “Howdy, doc.”
I heard you got religion down at the church the other day.” “That’s right doc. I dun give my life to the
Lord.” “Well I was wondering if you
might be paying what you owe me now.”
The man looked thoughtfully at the doctor then slowly got up from his
chair walked over to his horse and mounted it.
He then began to ride off and as he did he began to sing so the doctor
could hear, “Jesus Paid it all. All to
Him I owe….”
Background
Jesus is in
Jerusalem for the Passover (John 2:13).
Upon seeing the money changers in the temple area, he overturns their
tables and upsets their business and drives them physically from the
temple. This same event will take place
at the end of Jesus ministry as well as recorded in Mat 21:12 and Lu 19:45. Jesus also did many miracles while at the
feast. These works caught the attention
of all in Jerusalem, especially the Pharisees and in particular, one Pharisee who
was also a member of the Jerusalem ruling council, the Sanhedrin, this man was
named Nicodemus. Later that night, he
came to talk to Jesus. We are not sure
where this took place except that it was in the city of Jerusalem. Many think it must have been in the house of
John the brother of James, also call John the beloved. If this is true, John may have been sitting
in the same room while Jesus talked with Nicodemus and recalled the event years
later and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit recorded the event for us to
read today.
Seeking Salvation John 3:1-3
John 3:1-3 There
was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came
to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be
with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus Seeking
He comes by night for he fears his peers the Pharisees.
After Jesus had turned over the tables of the money changers in the Temple, the
Pharisees would see Jesus as someone who opposed their authority and right to
oversee not only commerce of the Temple but also their moral leadership of the
Jewish people.
We can see that he was looking for a great teacher. He calls Jesus Rabbi, which means, teacher or
master in the sense of someone who leads disciples.
He also seems to be looking for a way to eternal life, for
he says, “You are come from God.” But in reality he was ignorant of even how to
recognize heavenly truth or a teacher who brings that truth, for Jesus tells
him, “You can’t even see heaven unless you are born again.”
Seekers Today
There are many who are seeking something today but like
Nicodemus, they don't know how to even recognize it much less how to attain it.
Some are seeking happiness, peace, fulfillment, or joy. Many are seeking escape
from pain, fear or hopelessness. They think they can find the solution to what
they seek in many different ways some good and many very bad, but in the vast
majority of the cases they don’t find the help they need because they don’t
really know that they are looking for.
For too many the wrong answers and the wrong searches bring
them to terrible solutions for their pain, fear, sorrow or loneliness.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death in the United
States among people from the age of 10 to the age of 34. Overall for all ages
in the United States suicide is the 10th leading cause of death.
Alcohol abuse is the 3rd leading cause of death in the
United States. In 2014 16 million adults, 7% of the population was using
alcohol to deal with their life problems.
As of 2013 24.6 million Americans over 12 years old, 9% of
the population had used illegal drugs in the past month. Marijuana use has
risen from 6% in 2007 to over 7.5% in 2013 and that number is soaring not that
several states have legalized pot.
Nor is it just alcohol and drugs that people use to try and
find the answers they need for the questions of their soul. Some turn to
promiscuity, some are driven to succeed in business, some to risking their
lives for thrills some seek answers in cults and religions that only deepen
their need and take away their soul instead of saving it.
Like Nicodemus these people are searching but too often they
don’t even know what they need and they certainly don’t know how to find it. What
they are seeking is salvation, forgiveness and reconciliation but they can’t find
it because they are not seeing Jesus Christ as He truly is or they are seeking Him
for the wrong reason.
Illustration: the
Crowd seeks Jesus after the loaves and fishes. John 6:26
After Jesus fed the
5000 with the 5 loaves and 2 fish, the crowd tries to take him by force and
make him the king of Israel. Jesus leave
them and goes up into the mountainside.
The next day the crowd finds Jesus and ask him where he was. He tells them in John 6: 26-29 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did
eat of the loaves, and were filled.
27 Labour not for the meat which
perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the
Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. 28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do,
that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is
the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
Transition: What are
you seeking today? What are you seeking
Jesus for today?
The only place you’ll find joy, peace, fulfillment, and escape
from fear and sorrow in this life is in Jesus.
And the only way you’ll find it in a relationship with Him as Lord and
Savior.
Sensing the Spirit John 3:4-11
Nicodemus saith
unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time
into his mother's womb, and be
born? Jesus answered, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said
unto thee, Ye must be born again. The
wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst
not tell whence it cometh, and whither
it goeth: so is every one that is born
of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and
said unto him, How can these things be?
Jesus answered and said unto him, Art
thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak
that we do know, and testify that we
have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
Nicodemus and the Spirit
As Nicodemus listens he thinks that Jesus is talking about
two physical births. He asks, “How can a
man be born when he is old? Can he enter
the second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus then explains there must be two births, one of water (this
is the physical) and one of the Spirit (the is the spiritual, born again or
born from above).
Jesus tells him, that this new birth is through the power of
the Holy Spirit and he explains it with an illustration of the wind. It could
very well have been that as they talked the desert night wind may have been
blowing outside and Jesus then uses this as an illustration of the new birth.
He says, Just like the wind the Holy Spirit, can be felt and
experienced but not fully comprehended or predicted. “The wind blows where it wills and you hear
it but can’t tell where it’s going or where it’s been. So is everyone that is
born of the Spirit”
The New Birth and The Spirit
To find answers that I seek, to fill the emptiness of my
soul, I must understand the truth that Jesus was teaching Nicodemus. It begins
by understanding the two natures of man; physical and spiritual, corporeal and incorporeal.
Once I realize that there are two parts of me, then I must
understand that the spiritual part of me needs a new birth. I need to be born
again, not physically but spiritually. That new birth, is accomplished by the
power of the Holy Spirit.
I can experience it, just like one can feel the wind on
their face, but I cannot control it. I can accept it, but I cannot take it. It
is the work of the Holy Spirit and not my own.
Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done,
but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and
renewing of the Holy Ghost;
Ephesians 2:8 For by
grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of
God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should
boast. 10 For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them.
Illustration: C. S. Lewis’ conversion
C. S. Lewis describes his experience: "You must picture
me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind
lifted even for a second from my work, the steady unrelenting approach of Him
whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at
last come upon me. In the trinity term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God
was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and
reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining
and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such
terms. The prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly
adore the Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in
kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a
chance of escape? The words compelle intrare, compel them to come in, have been
so abused by wicked men that we shudder at them; but, properly understood, they
plumb the depth of the Divine mercy. The hardness of God is kinder than the
softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation."
Transition: Jesus has explained how the new birth works but
there is one thing left before the new birth can actually occur.
Securing Salvation John 3:12-18
If I have told
you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of
heavenly things? And no man hath
ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man
which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life. For God sent not his
Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might
be saved. He that believeth on him is
not condemned: but he that believeth not
is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God.
Nicodemus Sees Jesus Lifted Up
Nicodemus had to believe three things in order to be saved
according to what Jesus told him that day.
First, He had to believe Jesus words. Jesus begin the last
part of instructing Nicodemus by telling him. “I have told you.” He had to
believe that Jesus was who he said he was, that he had come done from heaven.
This means He was much more than just a teacher, He was God come in human flesh
to save sinners.
Secondly, He had to believe the scriptures.” Jesus reminds
Nicodemus of a story in the Old Testament. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness.” That story was about faith, trusting and believing that God
would provide a means to save his people.
Finally, he had to believe that Jesus was that means. That
He had been sent by God to be the salvation of mankind and just as the Hebrews
looked upon the serpent that was lifted up, so must Nicodemus look to Jesus
Christ when He would be lifted up. That look of faith would saved Nicodemus.
Have You Seen Jesus Lifted Up?
Our seeking for the answers we need, stops at salvation. Seeking
stops when we believe the same things Jesus told Nicodemus to believe.
1st, Believe the words of Jesus. “Ye must be born again.” He
is still speaking to us today through the Bible. The words he said in that
upper room somewhere Jerusalem, are the words he is speaking in Calvary Baptist
Church in Athens, Texas.
Secondly, I must believe that Jesus was lifted up on the
cross for me.
Isaiah 53:4-6 Surely
he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our
peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have
gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on
him the iniquity of us all.
Finally, I must believe that I am as dead in my sin, as
those in Moses time were dead from the bite of the serpent. Their death sentence took place in moments
mine may take years but it is still a sentence of death for the sin of unbelief
in God.
So important was it to believe that John emphasizes it in verse
16-18
John 3:16 -18 For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world;
but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not
condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
What does it mean then to believe in this way? I think there
is a great illustration that explains this.
Illustration: The Tightrope walker
One day in 1860, there was a huge crowd preparing to watch a
famous tightrope walker from France, Charles Blondin. 25,000 people gathered at
the Niagara Falls on both the American and Canadian sides, where Blondin had
stretched a wire from one end of the falls to another. As they watched, he
crossed the Falls on the rope several times, a 1,000 foot trip one way, and
over 160 feet above the raging waters. He walked it backward, blindfolded and
even stopped in the middle, make an omelet and ate lunch. Finally, he asked the
crowd if they believed he could take one person across. After seeing all that
he had just done, the crowd clapped and cheered showing, “Yes, they believed he
could carry someone across.” Then he pointed to one man in the crowd and asked
him to get on his back and go with him. The man refused. He pointed to another
and another and another. They all laughed and shook their heads no. They didn’t
really believe at all. His manager then calmly walked out from the crowd got on
Blondin’s back and together they walked across the chasm. He believed.
When it comes to our salvation it is the work of Christ
accomplished upon that cross and all I can do is look up and put my self in His
grace and love. I can accept the gift but I cannot earn it. I can believe as
the Holy Spirit sweeps across my heart and be born again. I must put my soul
fully into the care and keeping of Jesus Christ for that is truly believing.
Conclusion:
Jesus said, “Marvel
not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again” – John 3:7
The new birth is salvation and unless you have experienced it you are not saved, you cannot be saved.
The new birth is salvation and unless you have experienced it you are not saved, you cannot be saved.
The Holy Spirit through God’s word brings you to a place in
your life where you realize that before God you are a sinner. That Jesus the son of God came to earth and
lived a life without sin so that he might pay the price for your sin on the
cross. Finally, you must accept Jesus as
your Savior and Lord.
You must believe.
Are you tired of seeking for something that you will never
find? Don’t you crave the answers your soul desperately needs? Are you feeling
the wind of the Holy Spirit in your heart this morning? Then look up, for Jesus has been lifted up
before you this morning and if you will look to Him in faith, you will find the
answers you seek when you find the salvation of your soul.
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