HotSermons
educate equip enable
The New Birth
One little trick that every parent needs to master in raising kids: never get taken by surprise.
Like the day our daughter came home and announced, "I've got a tattoo!" I'm not a big fan of tattoos, and she knew it. But you have to pick your battles, and fight the ones that are worth fighting.
Jesus Himself had a knack of taking people by surprise.
For instance, there was the time they asked Him whether they should pay taxes to Caesar or not.
They thought they'd trapped Him, and whatever He said would get Him into trouble.
But He knew exactly what to say, and took them completely by surprise.
Then there was the time they brought to Him a woman they'd caught in adultery.
Again, they thought they'd catch Him in His words, but once more He took them by surprise.
John 3:1-6
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." (3) Jesus 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? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" (5) Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, 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.
In this passage, Jesus takes Nicodemus off guard by telling him that he had to be born again.
Nicodemus was completely bamboozled; had no idea what Jesus was talking about.
What does it mean to be born again?
Today, even the secular world uses the term for its own purposes.
A famous soccer player is regarded as lazy, then suddenly scores three goals in three games: they say he's born again. A rugby league player switches to grid iron: he's born again. A rock star starts doing jazz: he's born again.
So what does born again really mean?
We're starting a series on the Great Doctrines of the Bible.
Don't be afraid of that word "doctrine": it just means a teaching or belief.
1. The new birth is not of the flesh
Jesus said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
The new birth, or being born again, is a spiritual experience, not a natural one.
So Jesus contrasts Spirit and flesh and makes it clear that the new birth is not of the flesh.
When the Bible talks about the flesh, it can mean few things.
First, it can mean the physical body.
So 1 Tim 3:16 says, "... God was manifested in the flesh ..."
In other words, God the Son took on human flesh, referring to the Incarnation.
The second thing flesh can refer to is humanity in general.
Matthew 16:17
Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
When Simon Peter made his declaration of faith that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus responded by telling him that he didn't come to that conclusion by learning it from other humans, but that the Father Himself had given him a revelation.
The third thing that flesh can refer to is natural human ability.
Jeremiah 17:5-8
Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. (6) For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited. (7) Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is in the Lord. (8) For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.
This passage talks about the folly of putting your trust in natural human ability and the blessing of trusting in the Lord.
There are so many warnings in the Bible about trusting in natural ability.
Imagine God challenges you step out into something new. You pray desperately, "Lord, I need Your help." But after a while, you think, "Hey this isn't that hard." And you get a bit cocky. Now you're headed for trouble. You started out trusting in the Lord, but now you're putting your confidence in natural abilities.
The fourth thing the Bible might mean when it talks about the flesh is the sin nature.
Romans 7:18
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells...
It's talking here about the corrupt, sinful human nature we all inherited from Adam.
The new birth has nothing to do with any of these: not the human body, nor humanity in general, nor human ability, nor the sinful nature.
2. The new birth is essentially spiritual
So let's understand first, it's not primarily emotional.
You might feel something, but not necessarily.
This is important to understand, because people often chase emotional experiences.
There's nothing wrong with having an emotion experience with God, but that's not the basis of faith, or the basis of a relationship with God.
For instance, contrast my experience with my wife's experience. I made a simple decision to follow Jesus in 1975. I felt nothing in particular, and nobody was there to tell me that I should. On the other hand, Alli laughed and cried and did cartwheels she was so excited. Okay, so she didn't really do the cartwheels, but she really was excited.
One experience is no more valid than the other because the new birth is not an emotional experience.
When I was a young Christian, I met ex-missionaries who were there in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Welsh revivals in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They were a very old couple and the husband told me that he went to his brother during the revival and said, "I think I've missed it." His brother asked, "Why?" He said, "Because I keep thinking, 'Look at your brother and his amazing joy.' I didn't get that!" Then his brother responded, "Well, the devil's been sitting on my shoulder too, and saying, "You missed out. Look at your brother. He didn't go silly like you. He got the real thing.'"
You can't compare experiences.
For some of us, and experience with God triggers emotions.
For others, we are more sensible and exercise a little more control - just kidding!
The new birth is spiritual.
It takes place in the spirit, whereas the emotions are in the soul.
I am not dependent on my feelings when it comes to the new birth; my feelings don't change anything one way or another.
In our house, we have a beautiful view of the mountains from our lounge. What if I wake up one morning and say, "I can't feel those mountains." That doesn't mean they're not there.
Truth is not dependent on our feelings.
If I don't feel God today; or don?t sense the anointing, that doesn't mean that God isn't there or that I am not anointed by Him to do His will.
Don't get me wrong.
There's nothing wrong with feelings, as long as we understand their place.
So let's take a look at what happens in the new birth.
3. The human spirit is made alive
You might ask, "You mean that my spirit was dead?"
Yes.
Ephesians 2:1
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins
But we need to understand the nature of death; death is separation.
What happens to the physical body when it dies?
The spirit separates from it.
For instance, in Luke 8, Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, begged Jesus to heal his daughter. But Jesus was interrupted and by the time He got there, the man's daughter was dead. But Jesus took her by the hand and raised her from the dead.
Luke 8:55
Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately.
In death, her spirit had separated from her body.
Revelation 20:14-15
Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. (15) And anyone not found in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
The lake of fire is the second death; it is a place of permanent, eternal separation from God.
So spiritual death, the condition of all humanity till born again, is separation from God in this life.
If a person is spiritually dead, that doesn't mean their spirit doesn't do anything.
People involved in the occult - astrologers, mediums, etc. - are still connected to and hear from the spiritual realm, just not from God.
Their spirit is active, but they are spiritually dead in that they are separated from God and not in a covenant relationship with Him.
But when we are born again, our spirit becomes alive to God.
Because the new birth involves making the spirit alive, which is why it's also called regeneration.
That's why Jesus said, "Unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God."
The unborn again person is spiritually dead and has no place in God's Kingdom.
4. How to be born again
So how does a person become born again?
Nicodemus was confused on this point.
Thinking only in terms of the natural realm, his question to Jesus was, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"
As we've already seen, spiritual birth doesn't come about by natural processes.
It's a spiritual interaction with God Himself, and yet it's so simple.
All a person has to do is believe and act on that belief.
First, they believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross, paying the full price for their sins, and that He rose from the dead on the third day.
Then they act on that belief by unreservedly yielding their life to Him, turning from their sin, and becoming His follower.
Any person who sincerely does that will be born again and receive the free gift of eternal life.
Their spirit will be made alive by the indwelling presence of Christ within them and they will begin the process of transformation into what God wants them to be.