508: Born from Above | Dave Sloop

Now, I would imagine some of you were hearing that lengthy passage be read, and maybe you were thinking what my life group thought last week as they knew I would be teaching on this passage. We looked at it, and they were like, "Man, that's a long passage. But give me an hour"—and I'm just kidding.

We are going to focus primarily on the first 15 verses of this passage, and I want to tell you why this is a conversation that Jesus has with Nicodemus, and there are tremendous implications for us. But verses 16 through 21, depending on the Bible you have, those letters might be in red. There are some commentators that believe that this is a continuation, that this kind of back and forth between Nicodemus suddenly just evolves into this monologue where Jesus just goes on and on. I believe, as does the ESV, that verses 1 through 15 is a remarkable conversation that Jesus has, that we're going to unpack. And then in verses 16 through 21, it is the author, John, who erupts with essentially worship at how fantastic what just occurred was. So I just wanted you to have that context.

In order to understand the framing of this particular account and this conversation, we need to look back at the latter part of chapter two, which Tim taught on last week, but these last couple of verses we didn't quite get to. And so I want you to look at these verses, and I want to tell you why I think John puts it there. Oh, by the way, I have some more masculine glasses this week.

The Problem of Inauthentic Faith

Look at verse 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. — John 2:23

Now I want to pause right there for a second because John told us in chapter 20, verse 31 that this is the purpose of authoring his gospel. He said:

I've written unto you about these signs so that you may believe that he is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you might find life in his name. — John 20:31

And what he says right here sounds really good. They saw the signs and they believed in his name—it sounds good, right? But then we read in the next two verses some pretty cryptic words, and I wonder if you've ever paused here and wondered what they meant. Look at what it says:

But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. — John 2:24-25

What in the world is going on there? It's interesting that when it says they believed in his name and then it says Jesus did not entrust himself to them, it's the exact same Greek word—believe and trust. And therefore we might interpret it this way: they believed in his name, but Jesus did not believe in their belief. Why? Because he knew what was in a man.

Jesus saw into the heart. Do you know this? There's never a time in the gospel when Jesus encounters someone that he has not yet met—in the sense that he already knew them before they approached. He is the God of Psalm 139:14, where David says:

Lord, before a word is on my tongue, you know it all together. — Psalm 139:14

See, it's wrong for you and me. You learn this if you go to counseling, if you're having trouble communicating with people. It is wrong for you and me to assume motives, but see, Jesus is never assuming. He knows what is in a man.

What John is telling us here, as a transition to the account that we're about to read, is this: it is possible to see the sign, but to not really see the Savior. It is possible to display something that looks like faith, but is not genuine faith. And this happens throughout John's gospel because it's impossible to be believing or to be placing your faith in a version of Jesus Christ that is actually a version of your own making. It is not the real Jesus. It is not the Jesus as presented in the Bible. And by the way, this is true across churches in our country and across the world today too. This is inauthentic faith, and this is why Jesus does not entrust himself to them because he sees in their hearts and he knows that their faith—it's not what it appears. It isn't genuine faith.

In John chapter six, you're going to see an example of this where some people saw the sign of the feeding of the 5,000. I believe this is one of the only miracles that shows up in all four gospel accounts. Might be the only one. And they see the sign and they are so enamored by Jesus that it says they sprinted on foot. Jesus got in a boat to cross the lake, they got running and they beat him across the other side of the lake. And it says they wanted to make him king by force. Why? They wanted to make him king by force not because they saw Jesus as he presented himself, but they saw what they thought Jesus could do for them.

They saw that Jesus could become for them someone that would set them free from the oppression of the Roman government and could get back their power and their privilege and they said that's the one. Let's make him king. He is the Messiah. It looked like faith. It looked like they responded to the sign, but the reality is it wasn't genuine faith. They saw Jesus as a means to an end and Jesus exposes it in that chapter two and they go away sad. He does this over and over again in the gospels.

What we're going to look at today is genuine faith, authentic faith. What is it? Where does it come from? What does it produce and how do we get it? And Jesus is going to tell us that genuine authentic faith is the byproduct of something that he calls the new birth, the second birth, to be born from above, to be born of the spirit, to be born of the water in this way. It's so many different ways that he says it, but it all means the same thing, to be born from above.

We're going to take a look at what it means, and we're going to look primarily at three aspects of this. The first thing we're going to see is that the new birth is offensive. The second thing we're going to see is that the new birth is effective. It actually produces something in the people to whom it happens, and the third thing we see is the new birth is offered. The offense of the new birth is going to tell you why you need it and why I need it. The effectiveness of the new birth is going to tell you what happens to me, and the offer of the new birth is going to tell us and teach us how we can make it ours.

Nicodemus the Pharisee

Let's take a look, starting in verse 1 at this conversation, it says:

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. — John 3:1

Stop right there for a second. If you were a Pharisee, you were theologically trained. You were morally upright. You spent your life understanding the law of God, but not only that, you didn't just want to learn it so you could be good at Bible trivia. You looked to put it into practice. I mean, these were devout, serious people. They were also self-righteous people, but they worked very hard to understand and to apply what they believed the law meant, but not only that, this guy was a Pharisee. He was a ruler among the Jews. He had been elected. He was probably an older guy who had been faithfully serving as a Pharisee for quite some time, and he had become a member of the Sanhedrin, which meant he was a political figure. He was a religious figure. He was a man of tremendous dignity, respect, and influence in his community.

And here's what it says, he came to Jesus saying:

Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these things that you do unless God is with him. — John 3:2

Now again, this sounds really good, but you might not hear the hidden arrogance in this statement. And we know that it's arrogant based on how Jesus responds to him, which we'll get to in just a second. But he comes to him, this learned, theologically trained, morally upright man, and he comes to Jesus. By the way, he comes to him in the cover of night. It might be that he doesn't want to be seen talking to Jesus in the light of day, but he comes to him because he's curious, he comes to it at night, and he says this, "We know, we know that you're a teacher from God. No one could do these things unless God was with him." He speaks on behalf of the Pharisees and he essentially says to Jesus, "We know who you are." He doesn't say he's the Messiah, he doesn't say he's the prophet. He says, "We know that you are a teacher from God."

Do you know how a Pharisee would have characterized himself? A teacher from God. Really what this Pharisee and Nicodemus does is he brings himself up to Jesus' level, or rather he brings Jesus down to his. Maybe he's even suggesting, there's no question that's asked here, by the way. It says Jesus answered him, but there was no question, but what perhaps he is doing is suggesting, "Hey, we want to validate that you are a teacher from God. Let's get on the same page. Maybe we can accomplish some things." Maybe he's like this crowd in John 6 that just wants him to bring in freedom from the oppression that the Jews had experienced under the Roman government. Whatever the case may be, Jesus sees right through it.

Do you see the connection to verse 23 to 25? It says he saw the signs and he displays something that looks like faith, but it isn't genuine. But yet anyway, listen to what Jesus says in verse 3:

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. — John 3:3

You might not catch how offensive this is right away, but let me summarize what just took place.

This religious guy comes to Jesus and he says, "We know that you're a teacher from God." Jesus says, "You don't know squat." That's essentially what he says to him. "You can't see the kingdom," and he uses very narrow and very exclusive language. He says, "You cannot see the kingdom of God unless you're born again." He's going to go on to say:

Unless you're born of water and the spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. — John 3:5

It's getting more offensive. He's trying to help Nicodemus see this new birth, whatever it is that I'm talking about. You won't have access, entrance to the kingdom of God unless this happens to you. And by the way, Nicodemus, in case I haven't been clear enough:

Do not marvel that I said to you that you must be born again. — John 3:7

Do you hear how offensive that is to this man that would have been Israel's best representative? Someone that was actually sympathetic, it seemed, to Jesus' cause, and he says, "You're on the outside, Nicodemus." You are not seeing clearly, and it's not just that you're unwilling to see. You cannot see. Why? Because you haven't been born again.

The Ways Jesus Offends Nicodemus

Let me just enumerate for you the ways that Jesus offends this man. He essentially says to him, "You're spiritually blind"—you can't see. You are spiritually dead. Later, when John, the gospel writer, is explaining this passage, he says, "Your works are evil, that you love the darkness." That's what he's saying. You're morally bankrupt. Even your best attempts come up way short. You're spiritually blind, you're spiritually dead.

He's going to use an example, an obscure reference from Numbers 21, where God sends snakes to bite the people of Israel because of their rebellion and disobedience and ingratitude, and they start to die. He's going to suggest to Nicodemus that that same poison that was killing them, that he is infected with a poison that's killing him too.

Why is it sometimes in the gospels that Jesus is so gentle when he has an encounter with someone, and why is it that sometimes he is so harsh? I'll tell you why: because he knows what is in a man. He knows what that person needs to hear. And here is a man who is incredibly entitled, self-righteous, and arrogant. The idea that Nicodemus wouldn't have been admitted into—I mean, this was not even on his radar. He's not like the rich young ruler who comes to Jesus and says, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" There was some curiosity and admission in that man, where he acknowledged, "I'm missing something." But not with Nicodemus. I mean, the fact that he would be admitted into God's kingdom was a foregone conclusion, and here Jesus says, "You're cut off. There's something you cannot see."

Can I tell you something else? Jesus means to offend. He means to offend him. Let me take it a step further. He means to offend you and me also. If the gospel does not offend, then chances are you didn't understand it.

What Jesus is saying here is that there's something that needs to happen to you, Nicodemus—a change, a new life, a new birth, one that you can't affect. And by the way, Nicodemus, it puts you on par with a prostitute, a thief, and a debtor. You see, part of the reason that this is offensive is because of how narrow and exclusive the language is. But another reason that it's offensive is because of how broad the language is. Jesus says, "Whosoever, anyone who believes, anyone who looks upon me"—Nicodemus would have heard that and thought, "This is so offensive."

And here's why Jesus means to offend him. He is seeking to bring Nicodemus to the end of himself. See, the new birth, before it can affect you, it has to offend you. Before it can heal you, it has to harm you. Before Jesus can win Nicodemus or you or me, he has to wound.

Three years ago—actually, gosh, it wasn't that long ago—my sweet Libby had one of the nastiest breaks in her arm that I have ever seen. It was so disgusting. Love you, sweetheart. And we got to the hospital, and Melissa will tell you, I was so squeamish because they told us, "You know, we're going to have to set that." And she was already in such excruciating pain. Here she is. She shows up and she needs healing. And what they're telling her is, "We're going to have to hurt you worse before you can get better." And that's what Jesus is doing here. He's got to hurt us before he can heal us because here's the deal: if we don't understand our need for the gospel, there is no good news. He's just someone who's come to show maybe a better way to be more moral and upright. That's not what he came for. He came to save.

The Effectiveness of the New Birth

The gospel, the new birth, is necessarily, first of all, offensive. But secondly, notice how effective it is. By implication, the first two things that Jesus said is you cannot see the kingdom and you cannot enter the kingdom unless you were born again. And so the first thing that I would point your attention to is that the new birth—or what theologians would call regeneration.

The first thing that it produces in you is new sight. It gives you the ability to see and understand biblical and theological truth that you could not otherwise see and understand. I want you to look with me at 2 Corinthians 14 through 16.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ's triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma, the knowledge of Him everywhere. — 2 Corinthians 2:14-16

Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit who is from God that we might understand the things freely given us by God. — 1 Corinthians 2:12

The natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God for they are folly to him. And he is not able to understand because they are spiritually discerned. — 1 Corinthians 2:14

Jesus is telling us in teaching Nicodemus that there are some things you cannot understand unless my spirit comes and wakes you up and opens your eyes. The first thing that the new birth gives you is an ability to understand spiritual things that you could not otherwise understand.

New Life Through the New Birth

The second thing by implication that the new birth gives you is new life. This is not just a metaphor. Something really happens. You get new life.

Now I want you to think for a second back to your early childhood. Like really early. Like womb. In the womb. Imagine that your memory could go back that far. And I want you to just imagine what memories you might have. Maybe you think, gosh, it's pretty good in here. It's warm, swimming in this hot tub. I never even have to tell anyone when I'm hungry. I just get fed. I can hear my mother's voice. I'm protected. Nothing bad can get to me. You might even think, it doesn't get any better than this.

But then imagine one day that pool that you've been swimming in just escapes. And you start to feel pressure and you start descending. And you see that you're heading towards a light and you think this is it, it's the end. It's been a good run, but you and I know birth isn't the end of life. It is the beginning of a fuller, richer, better life.

Jesus is telling Nicodemus that there is something available to all who would believe—a richer, better, fuller life. He's going to describe this life with two primary metaphors, both of which are Old Testament references. Jesus is going to talk to us about the water, the spirit and the wind. And I'd like to show you what each of them mean.

Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of spirit is spirit." — John 3:5-6

What is it that Jesus means when he says, "Unless you're born of the water and spirit"? There are a lot of interpretations, and many commentators have different opinions on this. I'm going to share with you my particular understanding.

Many believe that this is talking about baptism. It makes sense that people would jump to that conclusion because John the Baptist said, "I baptized with water, he baptizes with the spirit," and people might say you have to experience baptism in water and also baptism of the spirit. That's a fine understanding, but I don't think that's what Jesus means here. Even though I think baptism is something that we are commanded to do, I don't think that's what he's talking about here.

Here's why: he says to Nicodemus later, "Are you the teacher of Israel and you don't know these things?" Baptism was a relatively new practice in history. In the history of the Jewish religion, it was new, and he wouldn't have expected that Nicodemus would have known about baptism. So in order to understand when he says to him, "You should have known," it is likely that he's referring to an Old Testament passage that he would have expected Nicodemus to understand—an Old Testament passage that talks both about the water and the spirit.

Do you know what it is? Ezekiel 36, verses 25 to 27, which is the new covenant that one day God promised to deliver.

"I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you." — Ezekiel 36:25

Let me stop right there for a second. You know what that is communicating? Forgiveness.

Part of what the new birth brings is a wiping away of all your error. No matter how deep it is, whether you're a self-righteous Pharisee or an adulterer, or a prostitute, or a thief, or filled with greed, you are wiped clean, forgiven, scandalous. Then he says this:

"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, and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey all my rules." — Ezekiel 36

You hear what this new life is like? He says, "I'm going to fully cleanse you in a way that the sacrificing of bulls and goats can't quite do. I'm going to clean you once and for all—a complete and total forgiveness." But then secondly, he doesn't stop there. He says, "I'm going to put my spirit inside you." He's like, "I'm going to take away that heart of stone that God can't penetrate because it's so hardened. I can't hear him. I can't understand him. I can't live in a way that pleases him." That's what a heart of stone produces. He says, "I'm going to give you a heart of flesh. It's moldable, it's sensitive, it can hear my voice, it can understand my words." That's what I'm going to put in you.

And then he goes so far as to say this: "I will cause you to obey all the things that I've commanded." It's not going to be up to you because guess what—centuries and centuries and centuries of history show us Israel couldn't do it. And apart from the spirit, you couldn't either. He says, "I will come and cleanse you and fill you and cause you to have a heart that has new affections, new passions, and it even has the propensity to want to obey me."

How about that? Maybe you've had this experience where before you met Christ, there were some things that you used to love that you now hate, and some things that you used to hate—like going to church—that you now love. It's because he changed you. Paul would put it this way:

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." — 2 Corinthians 5:17

It's not a metaphor. Something actually happens. What he's telling Nicodemus is: Nicodemus, you don't need a reformation, you need a transformation. You don't need to just be tweaked, you don't need to be tidied up, you need to be composed completely new. That's what the new birth is—it is effective.

The Wind and the Spirit

But here's the second one. He says:

"The wind blows where it wishes. You hear it, but you don't know where it came from, and you don't know where it's going. In the same way, everyone who is born of the spirit." — John 3:8

What is happening here? What's going on with the wind? Well, first of all, that word "wind" in the Greek is "pneuma," and it's the same exact word as the spirit. He's saying, "The spirit blows where it wishes."

I think that Jesus intentionally uses water and spirit and wind back to back, because in Ezekiel 36 he talks about the water that cleanses you and the spirit that gives you new life. And in Ezekiel 37, do you know what happens? He goes to the valley of the dry bones, and they're very dry, and they're very dead. He says, "Prophesy over these bones," and you hear a rattling, and then they start to connect, and then there's sinews and muscle and skin, but they're still lifeless. They're dead. And he says, "Prophesy to the breath." It says that the wind came, and wind in Hebrew is "ruach," and it's the same exact word as the spirit. The wind comes, and these dead bones that are now covered in muscle and flesh come to life. And he says, "This is the nation of Israel." You know what he's saying? "You are dead, and you cannot please me. Therefore, I am going to cleanse you. I'm going to fill you with my spirit, and I'm going to breathe life into you so you can start to live." This is what is coming in the last days.

Jesus said, "This is what the new birth is." And Nicodemus hears this, and his response to it might be what yours and mine would be. He says, "How can this be?" He might have said, "What are you talking about?" I think when he says, "How can this be," likely what he means is, "How can this be for me?"

The Offer of the New Birth

And I want to show you quickly how Jesus responds. We've already seen the offense of the new birth, we saw the effect of the new birth, and now we're going to see the offer of the new birth. Listen to Jesus' response. I'm going to go to the end of his response in the interest of time.

"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." — John 3:14

This is an obscure story from Numbers 21. We're not going to read it for the sake of time. Let me summarize what happens. I've already mentioned that they were disobedient. They had passed through the Red Sea. He had delivered them from Egypt, and they start complaining and grumbling.

They're out there in the wilderness and they said this food is miserable, this food that God was providing from heaven, they didn't like the taste, this food that was sustaining them, they complained, they grumbled against Moses and against God, and so God sent snakes, and snakes bite his people, and some of them die. And then finally, some of the people start to cry out and they say, "We have sinned against you and against Moses." And they ask Moses to pray and here's what God tells Moses to do in response to that prayer. He says, "I want you to fashion an image of a fiery serpent that looks just like the serpent that was killing these people, my people, and I want you to lift up that serpent." He makes a serpent out of bronze and he hoists it up and he says, "Anybody who has been bitten that looks at the serpent will be healed." All they have to do is look, that's it, just look at it.

Now, Jesus says, "Son of man must be lifted up just like that serpent." Why, you might ask, would Jesus compare himself to the serpent? It makes sense to compare the serpent or to draw a comparison between the serpent here in the wilderness and the serpent in the garden from which sin entered the world. Satan is the example of the serpent, but Jesus, how is it that he compares himself to the very thing that's killing them? I want to tell you why. Paul would put it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:21:

"He made him who knew no sin to be sin." — 2 Corinthians 5:21

Do you know the scandal of the gospel? The gospel is offensive because it brings me to the end of myself, but the gospel is even more offensive in the fact that the Son of God, the perfect Son of God, would condescend not only to come and live among us, but that he would be lifted up as sin. He would become our sin. And Jesus says, "And all you've got to do is look." That's your part, I'll do everything else.

See, there are some conditions for the new birth, but you know who meets them all? Not you, Jesus meets all of them. The righteous requirements of the law and the penalty that your sin demanded. His death, he became sin, so that you could become the righteousness of God. He suffered and died, God's perfect son, so that you could become his perfect son or your daughter, clothed in his righteousness. Not having a righteousness of your own, but one that came from him.

I don't know what you bring in this room today. Perhaps you are someone who's been walking with Christ for a long time. Maybe today, you need to reflect on the reality that the Son of the living God, his spirit is who lives inside you, and that spirit comes with power, and something really happened to you. There will be days that you don't feel like it. There will be days that you fall on your face and you make mistakes. I'm not suggesting that this new birth equals perpetual, emotional, passion and perfection morally in your life. We don't change overnight, but over time. And there are times where we just are in the wilderness, but guess what? It never changes what we are to do in those moments. Look, that's it, you look, and you remember.

And for those of you that might be here today that have never trusted in Christ, I hope that you would hear me. Your righteous deeds, your attempts to save yourself will fall flat for the rest of your life. No matter how hard you try, you will come up short.

There is no one righteous, no not one. The wages of sin is death, and we all fall short of the glory of God.

The good news for you is that today, in the blink of an eye, you can look to the cross and be saved.

I'm just going to tell you this one last thing. Do you know the rest of the story for Nicodemus? He didn't get it in chapter 3, but he's starting to get it in chapter 7. When he speaks up to the Sanhedrin and he defends Jesus, he said, "Hey, maybe we should give this guy a chance." And then in chapter 19, after Jesus has died, Joseph of Arimathea asked for permission to bury Jesus. And do you know who's right there with him? Nicodemus. See, at some point, for Nicodemus, the wind blew, and his eyes were opened, and he saw. He looked, and he was saved. I hope that you will be too.

Let's pray. Father, thank you. We love you. We need you. I pray that all of us, wherever we are in this journey, would look to you today. In Christ's name. Amen.