Back in 2017, while my first wife, Shirley, was battling cancer, I placed a short sermon in print, entitled “Ye Must Be Born Again.” The sermon deals with our Lord Jesus’ command to Nicodemus on the night of his visit to the Saviour in Bethany. We used the booklet as a mean to extend our witness to others dealing with various forms of cancer. It was something they could take home and re-read, something the Spirit of God could use to convict men of their sin and turn to Christ for God’s forgiveness!
Ye Must Be BORN AGAIN
The statement, Ye must be born again, may seem strange to some, but it is understood by every saved person. The Bible does say, If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. The connection between the gospel of Jesus Christ and the new birth is faith. Faith, saving faith, comes from hearing the word of God.
Men can hear, that is, receive, portions of the Bible, believe statements from the Scriptures, and not be saved. Consider creation, for example. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. Men have believed in the direct creative act of God and assumed he has left his creation to maintain itself, like a time piece the clock-smith sets upon a mantle. They call their faith Deism.
Judgment can be believed without receiving mercy. Those who hold that their good works will out-weigh their bad works at a final reckoning are counting on earning their salvation. Though judgment is eternal (Hebrews 6:2), Hell can be strangely tolerable to some who believe it is for a limited duration, either through a reprieve, as with purgatory, or for a limited duration, as in the Seventh-day Adventist's idea of soul annihilation. They have heard some things from the Bible, but they have missed the gospel of Jesus Christ. They have failed to see the second birth. They have ignored God's gift of salvation.
The Lord introduced Nicodemus to the new birth one night in Bethany, a small town outside Jerusalem, by making a general declaration. It applies to everyone, not just to Nicodemus. It applies to us: Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). The new birth is required before a man can see the kingdom of God. It is required in order to enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5), and it is necessary to enjoy God's kingdom. The second birth grants us a life that Jesus terms as both everlasting (John 3:16) and eternal (John 3:15) with God.
The new birth is a spiritual birth. The flesh has no part in it. Jesus told Nicodemus, That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:6). The Lord spoke of the Spirit of God. There are no markings on the outside of a saved man for men to see. But, there is a seal that God can see. That seal is the Holy Spirit himself. What men can see is the change in our lives that comes from God's Spirit within us.
Here is how the Apostle Paul describes this transformation in Ephesians 1:12-13 — [12] That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. [13] In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, [14] Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ. His gospel is the gospel of salvation. Called glad tidings in Romans 10:15, it is the gospel of peace, peace between God and man. Jesus Christ, by the cross, reconciles all men: for, through him, we have access by one Spirit unto the Father (Ephesians 2:16-18).
The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, declaring unto them the gospel which he preached, which they had received and in which they firmly stood. It is the gospel, Paul declares, by which also ye are saved (1Corinthians 15:2). This is what Paul preached: how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. This is the gospel Paul himself received.
Christ was in the world. The world was made by him, and the world knew him not. The Lord, the Holy One of Israel, came unto his own, and his own received him not. Though their religious leadership demanded his crucifixion, as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13).
All those who believe upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who receive him as the One whom God has sent, God in the flesh, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, are born of God. This birth is the result of receiving the person of Christ, of believing on his name. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13). On that day of reckoning, we who have trusted Christ shall be saved from the wrath of God.
Whether our good works outweigh our bad deeds, salvation from Hell can be already settled by receiving who Jesus is and what Jesus did for us in shedding his blood, in laying down his life and in rising from the dead. It must be settled before we leave this life. It can be, by receiving Jesus Christ as our Savior. It is the Lord's own promise: He that believeth on me hath everlasting life (John 6:47).
Four births are introduced in John's Gospel. All are linked to belief. They are as follows: of blood, of the will of the flesh, of the will of man and of God (John 1:13). Of blood applies to such practices as the Old Testament sacrifices of bulls and of goats (Hebrews 9:12-14), which were only a type. They pictured the Lamb of God, whose blood takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
Of the will of the flesh deals with man's feelings and lusts. What feels right, or what appeals to our emotions. This is the eat, drink and be merry philosophy men often call Epicureanism (Luke 12:19). Of the will of man looks to our intellect and to the strength of our will power, our discipline. It is the Stoic's will worship (Colossians 2:23). What will be will be. These first three are not the new birth. The last one is. The first three cannot save; the last one, of God, saves.
The Lord Jesus taught men to be obedient unto those in authority; yet, warned men not to do according to their works (Matthew 23:3). He described the activity of the religious leadership of his day as compassing sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves (Matthew 23:15). Men are not saved by man. Men are saved by God.
Being born of God (John 1:13) is the same as being born of the Spirit (John 3:6). This Spirit is God's Spirit. He is the Comforter, of whom Jesus later speaks in John's Gospel. Called the Spirit of truth, he abides with every believer, forever (John 14:16-17). Another name for the Spirit is the Holy Ghost (John 14:26). It is the Spirit of God that reproves the world of sin, because they believe not on Jesus, of righteousness, because Christ (whom men crucified) is received of the Father, and of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged (John 16:7-11).
The unbelieving world cannot receive the Spirit of God (John 14:17). They cannot receive him because they cannot see him, neither do they know him. But all who place faith in Jesus Christ know the Spirit of God, for the Spirit dwells within them from the moment they receive Christ (Romans 8:9). He is God's seal (Ephesians 1:13) by which the Lord knows them that are his. These are they that name the name of Christ (2 Timothy 2:19).
Regarding the Lord's name, the Apostle Paul wrote to Rome, declaring that we are to confess Christ's name. He writes, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Romans 10:9-10).
What was Jesus asking Nicodemus to do? The Lord was asking him to believe that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son to be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. Christ was asking Nicodemus to believe that God sent his Son into the world that the world through him might be saved (John 3:14-17).
Why is this so important? Nicodemus was under condemnation. He was already condemned because he had not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18). Was Nicodemus a religious man? Yes, he was among the Pharisees who prided themselves on their strict observance of rites and ceremonies of the written law and on upholding their own oral traditions concerning the law. Nicodemus was even a ruler of the Jews. None of this mattered. By the offense of Adam, sin came into the world (Romans 5:12) and judgment came upon all men to condemnation (Romans 5:18).
Jesus Christ is man's only hope. By his righteousness, the free gift that leads to justification of life came upon all men, and by his obedience many shall be made righteous before God (Romans 5:18-19). His obedience was shown in his laying down his life on the cross of Calvary (Philippians 2:8) for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2).
God's free gift was his Son (John 3:16). Redemption has been provided, even the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:14). It came upon all men (Romans 5:18), but many is the term used to describe those that will be made righteous (Romans 5:19). Why? Because men must become obedient (Romans 10:21) to the gospel of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:13). And the first man born of Adam walked away from God (Genesis 4:5-7).
God wanted Nicodemus to choose eternal life through faith in Jesus. He is the only begotten Son of God. The blood he shed cleanses us from sin. Called the Word, he was with God in the beginning, and he was God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made (John 1:1-3). He, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:6-8).
God the Father manifested his love toward us by sending his Son into the world to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:9-10). Christ is our atoning sacrifice, our propitiation. By him, we receive the atonement (Romans 5:11): the one, eternal sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 9:28).
The daily sacrifices under the law of Moses could never make any man perfect before God (Hebrews 10:1). In contrast, by one offering, Jesus Christ has perfected forever them that are sanctified (Hebrews 10:14). How are men sanctified before God? By God's own will: through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once, for all (Hebrews 10:10).
God is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Repentance from dead works and faith toward God is the first principle in the doctrine of Christ (Hebrew 6:1), what Jesus taught upon the earth. Our turning to God from idols, to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, is the hallmark of salvation (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10). For the Jews, submitting themselves to the righteousness of God by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, rather than going about to establish their own righteousness, is the key (Romans 10:3-4).
God wanted Nicodemus to obey the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). The Lord Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so was the Son of man lifted up (John 3:14). As every man who was hung on a tree is cursed, so Christ was made a curse for us that the blessing of Abraham might come on us through Jesus Christ: that is, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith (Galatians 3:13-14).
We must be born again. We must receive the witness of the Spirit of God that we are sinners, having no hope and without God in the world: but, in Christ Jesus, we who were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:12-13). We must believe the gospel, like the Apostle Paul. Note his testimony:
[15] We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, [16] Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified (Galatians 2:15-16).
What will your testimony be? Will it be of the Lord Jesus Christ; or, will it be of some man, some theory of men, some group of men? You must make a choice. John the Apostle touches on the new birth once again in his first epistle. This is the simplicity of the second birth: [1] Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. [2] By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. [3] For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. [4] For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. [5] Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:1-5)
Will you recognize that you are a sinner before God and receive his gift of salvation through his only begotten Son? The Lord Jesus shed his blood for your sins. Turn to him. Believe in your heart and confess him before men.