We need to be born again – John 2:23-25,3:1-8

Good morning church!Wishing you a happy new year! It’s so great to see you all on this first Sunday of the year. I pray that God would meet our deepest spiritual needs & longings this morning through His Word.

As a church we’ve been going through a series titled Believing and Knowing Jesus from the Gospel of John. John tells us that the whole purpose of this book is that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing we may have eternal life in His name. (John 20:31) And what is eternal life? It’s knowing Jesus! It’s knowing Jesus deeply and personally!

The goal is that as we go through this series, we would all say that we know Jesus not just because of what our pastor told us about Him. We know Jesus not just because of what our parents told us about Him. We know Jesus because we ourselves have a real relationship with Him. We know Him deeply and personally through His Word.

There might be some of us here who have known Jesus for many years. There might be some of us who have known Jesus for a few years. There might be some who haven’t begun that relationship.

Let me tell you something, we will all be challenged in different ways to ask ourselves what does it mean for us to know Jesus deeper than we’ve known Him before. To experience greater intimacy with Jesus than we’ve experienced before.

Pray

Ever since Jesus began His earthly ministry, He’s been giving people glimpses of who He is. He’s been revealing certain things about His character and what He’s come to do.

At the wedding at Cana where they had this wine crisis, Jesus revealed Himself as the sovereign ruler of the universe and the merciful provider for His people’s needs. Here is this being who controls everything in creation & has the ability to do the unbelievable like turning water into wine. But He’s also the merciful One who generously supplies for His people’s needs. And the full picture of that is understood on the cross.

And then He reveals that He is passionate for His Father’s glory & that He’s passionate about holiness in His people’s lives as He cleanses the Temple. He can’t stand the fact that the worship of God was being replaced by a marketplace. That the worship of God was being replaced by something else. That’s how serious Jesus is about His Father’s glory and holiness in our lives.

And so we’re beginning to see glimpses of who this Messiah is – who this Jesus is. And He’s already seeming quite different and unexpected to what people in those days were expecting from their Messiah.

So with that, let’s jump into our text today from John 2:23 onwards:

[23] Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.

Now this should be exciting news!Jesus’ ministry seems to have taken off with a lot of successful responses. Because it says here that many believed in his name, many committed themselves to Jesus, many surrendered themselves to Jesus because of the miraculous signs that Jesus was doing.

You can imagine the disciples looking at the response of the crowds and getting thrilled. If I were in the disciples’ shoes, I would be getting really anxious at this point wondering if we needed to hire a stadium for Jesus’ next meeting. Because such was the response and the reaction from the crowds.

 [24] But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people [25] and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

Now at first this seems a little difficult to understand. These crowds seem to be responding well to Jesus. They are believing in His name. They are committing themselves to Jesus. Why is Jesus now not entrusting Himself to them?

The answer is because He knew all people. He needed no one to bear witness about man for he himself knew what was in man. Jesus is able to look into our hearts. Jesus sees everything as it is in our hearts.

There’s nothing in us that can be hidden or covered or fabricated in the eyes of Jesus. He’s able to see through our insincere praises. He’s able to see through our ingenuine faith. He’s able to see through our inauthentic repentance.

On Sundays when we come to Him and sing “All to Jesus I surrender, I surrender all”, He’s able to look into our hearts and see if we’re actually willing to surrender all! When we sing, “Lord I give you my heart, I give you my soul, I live for you alone”, He’s actually seeing if that’s really the inclination of our heart or if it’s just empty words.

On the last day of a retreat or a revival meeting, when we raise our hands or walk down an aisle or pray a prayer to follow Jesus, He knows exactly what the condition of our hearts are as we do these things. He knows if we’re doing it out of faith or just to please man. That’s why He doesn’t get carried away simply by seeing our emotional response.

It’s a humbling thing for us to recognize that when we’re faking it, He knows it. Maybe our family won’t be able to tell. Maybe our closest friends won’t be able to tell. Jesus knows when we’re faking it.

he knew all people [25] and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

Now let’s see how this passage connects with the next one.

[1] Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

 [2] This 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.”

We’re introduced to a man called Nicodemus. And he’s a Pharisee – someone who was super religious – who strictly obeyed the Jewish law to the tee. They were the front benchers, the scholars when it came to external obedience of the law.

Not only was he a Pharisee, He was ruler of the Jews – a key decision maker in the Jewish court, a man of great influence with great knowledge of the Scriptures. People looked up to him as a spiritual leader! This is a big shot – a man of amazing spiritual credentials!

And this big shot – man of amazing spiritual credentials among Jews approaches Jesus interestingly not in daylight but at night which shows that he wanted to be discreet about it. He didn’t want people to know about this meeting with Jesus. It was a private, secret meet up.

He addresses Jesus as “Rabbi” or Teacher. Which is interesting because Jesus didn’t go through the formal route of becoming a Rabbi – which would involve years of seminary training & practice. Yet Nicodemus calls him as Rabbi which means that he had genuine respect for Jesus.

And he clarifies why he had so much of respect for Jesus. And it was because of the signs that Jesus performed. It became evident to Nicodemus that it was God who sent Jesus. It became evident to hin that God was with Jesus. These signs had God written all over it.

So far so good. It seems like Nicodemus is showing genuine faith in Jesus. For such a man who is of his stature to come and meet Jesus by night, honor Jesus and recognize God’s favor over him. Everything looks perfect until now.

[3] Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Jesus stumps him by telling him to be born again. Difficult to understand? For us yes. But for Jesus- No, because he knows all people. He doesn’t need anyone to witness about man because he knows what is man. He sees what is in a person’s heart.

And even for a person like Nicodemus who had such amazing spiritual credentials, Jesus is telling him that he needs to be born again to see the kingdom of God! Isn’t that astounding?

If the front bencher in the spiritual class has no chance of getting into the kingdom of God by himself, then what chance do you and I have in entering the kingdom of God on our own performance? 0 percent.

Unless you are born again you cannot see the kingdom of God. If anything this verse should deeply humble all of us this morning.

Wait are you telling me that all those years of consistently trying to obey God’s law is not enough to get me in the kingdom of God? No. Are you telling me that all my bible knowledge that I’ve accumulated over the years isn’t enough to get me in the kingdom? No. Are you telling me that all the years of leading and shepherding God’s people isn’t enough to get me in the kingdom? Not at all.

You and I need to be born again.

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

[6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Nicodemus is having trouble understanding the concept of being born again. Because he’s thinking about physical birth and he’s thinking how can I go back into my mother’s womb a second time? This is not making sense to him.

Jesus responds to his confusion by clarifying that he’s not talking about physical birth. It’s a spiritual birth that has to take place as it says in V6.

In v5, Jesus tells him that unless a person is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Now what is this water and the Spirit? Some people say that this is a reference to water baptism but not exactly. This is a reference to a very well known prophecy from Ezekiel:

Ezekiel 36:25-27

[25] I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. [26] And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. [27] And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

This is God’s promise to His people that He made centuries before this. Being born of water refers to how all of us have a desperate need to be cleansed. Unlike the image that we would like to believe about ourselves, we are actually filthy and messed up on the inside.

And it’s not just our sins, our righteous acts are also filthy.

Isaiah 64:6 ESV

[6]  We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

Think about this – this is what Jesus is telling Nicodemus. That he needs to be cleansed on the inside. On the outside it might seem like he’s the best, he’s the front bencher but on the inside, he is filthy and messed up like any of us.

And being born of the Spirit refers to how we are all incapable of obeying God with the right heart motivations.

For us to be able to do that, God would need to put His own Spirit within us so that we would have new desires for the Lord. So that we would obey not out of fear of punishment or obligation but out of love for God.

It’s like a loving relationship between a child and the parent where the child obeys the parent not because the child is afraid that he will be kicked out of the house and the family but the child obeys out of love for the parent.

And so when Jesus says unless you are born of water and the Spirit, he’s telling Nicodemus that he needs cleansing from God and he needs a new Spirit which is wired to obey God as He desires. Right now Nicodemus isn’t capable of doing that.

Do you see your need? Do you see your helplessness?

[7] Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

[8] The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Listening to all of this, Nicodemus was still coming to terms with being born again. Because he spent his whole life thinking that strict external obedience was what was required and here Jesus is saying that he needs to have spiritual birth. And in Nicodemus’ mind, he’s thinking how will that happen? What does he need to do in order to make himself experience spiritual birth? What is something that he can do with his hands to make it happen? Does he need to come up with a strategy and a plan?

And Jesus gives him an analogy of the wind. The wind blows where it wishes. The wind present in nature does it’s own thing. We can’t control it from our side. We just experience it – we hear it’s noise, we feel the pressure of the wind. But it comes and goes as it wishes. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

In other words, just like you and I have no part in controlling the wind. You and I have no part in bringing about spiritual rebirth. It’s a supernatural gift of God!

So the question I want to ask us this morning is “Are you born again?” Have you truly experienced spiritual rebirth? As we see in this passage this morning – Nicodemus had the best of credentials. He had all the bible knowledge. He had all the required obedience. He had all the leadership qualities. He had all the accomplishments. But yet he was not born again.

If you’ve not been born again, I just want to let you know that today is another opportunity for us to know that the one who tells us to be born again is God’s Son who went up on the cross to die for you and me.

His sacrifice is what cleanses us from our sins and idols. He was buried and then rose again on the Third Day so that anyone who repents and puts that their trust in Jesus’ life and sacrifice for them would be cleansed from the inside out, they will be given a new heart of flesh and a new Spirit to help us obey God.

And if you’ve been a believer – you look at this passage, you look at your life and you see the fruit of the Gospel, the question we need to ask is “are you living a life that demonstrates that you’ve been cleansed of your idols?”

Are you living a life where obedience to God is a joy for you and not a burden? Your not looking at obedience as a rule book but loving service. And let’s be honest because the Jesus we’re dealing with knows what is in man. He knows what is in our hearts.

This is an opportunity for us to repent of our idols & turn to Him for forgiveness and restoration.

1 John 1:9 ESV

[9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.