This study is on the third chapter of John where Jesus taught on the Spirit giving birth and life to the sinner. We are honoring the Holy Spirit in this study. The Word of God (the Holy Bible) always honors God in everything, especially in salvation. Man has no honor when it comes to this matter of salvation. Like I heard one fellow say, “My only contribution to my salvation was my sin!” Salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9). What is the lost person’s condition before he is born again by the Spirit? He is dead to God (Eph.2:1-3). What can a dead person do? Nothing. He does not act; he must be acted upon. I’ll tell you what a dead person can do: he can stink and rot (get worse), he can raise a hand, walk an aisle, audibly repeat a prayer, sign a card. He can do a lot of things but not repent and believe, not toward God. What can a dead (unborn) person not do? Anything. He cannot do anything. Remember this. “There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.” (Jn.3:1) To say the Nick in this story is a religious man is like saying Tom Hanks is an actor, or Michael Jordan is a basketball player, or the Pacific Ocean is a lot of water. Jesus called him, “the teacher of Israel,” in Jn.3:10. Not “a” teacher of Israel, but “the” teacher of Israel. This was the dean of the school of theology in the Hebrew seminary of his day. Nobody better or more schooled in the Scriptures than Nicodemus. “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.’” (v.2) Now, if someone said that about you or me, we would be greatly honored. And it was certainly true of Jesus. He was a teacher come from God and He had done great signs. In the context of this passage, Jesus had done so many signs in Jerusalem that “many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.” (Jn.2:22) No doubt about it, Nick was right. He had seen some things. He had seen some miracles and was convinced that only someone from God could do such things. What is dishonoring and wrong about what he said about Jesus is that it didn’t go far enough. It revealed a serious lack in his spiritual eyesight. God was not only with Jesus; Jesus Himself was God! “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (Jn.1:1) Nicodemus had seen some signs of the kingdom but he had not seen the kingdom, for he had not fully recognized the King who was doing the signs. He knew something about Jesus but He didn’t know who Jesus was. If he had seen who Jesus was, he would have seen the kingdom of God. If you, dear reader, haven’t seen who Jesus is, you haven’t seen the kingdom of God either. You can’t see the kingdom of God unless you are born again by the Holy Spirit. Jesus is about to tell Nicodemus that he hadn’t really seen anything because he hadn’t seen the kingdom of God. “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” (v.3) You haven’t seen the kingdom if you have not seen the king. Nicodemus hadn’t done that and Jesus lets him know it. He had to be born of the Spirit in order to see the kingdom of God. Jesus is talking about what we call being “born again,” which is actually a translation of the Greek words which mean “born from above.” I’ll talk about he significance of the literal translation in a moment. Right now, I want you to notice that Jesus didn’t tell Nicodemus that he had to wait for three years for that to happen. Many in our day believe that people didn’t get born of the Holy Spirit until after Pentecost. The Greek word for that is - bologna! Since the beginning of time men have seen God and walked with God because they have been born of the Spirit (Gen.2:7). The Holy Spirit had indwelt people all through the Old Testament. (See Gen.41:38; Num.27:18; Neh.9:30; Is.45:14; 63:11; Dan.4:18.) Enoch walked with God. Abraham saw God. Jacob saw God. Moses saw God. Joshua saw God. Lots of people saw the kingdom of God. How could they do that if they had not been born again of the Spirit? First Peter 1:11 is the end of the argument for me. Speaking of the Old Testament prophets who prophesied of the coming of Christ, Peter wrote: “searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was IN them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.” End of argument. Nicodemus was living in that Old Testament dispensation, before the death of the New Testament Testator (Heb.9:15-17). Jesus didn’t tell him that he would have to wait until Pentecost. Can you imagine Jesus saying to Nicodemus, “You must be born again, but that cannot happen for another three years?” No, you can’t. Neither can I. Because - it isn’t true. Had Nicodemus been born again, he would have seen the kingdom of God; but he didn’t because he hadn’t That is the gist of Christ’s word to him. Multitudes had received Jesus for who He was because they had been born “not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (Jn.1:13) That is, many had received Him because they had been born of the Spirit of God. There has never been but one way to be saved. All people of all times have been saved the same way. They have all been born of the Spirit so they can see the kingdom and thus repent and believe in God. There has never been one way to be saved at one time and then another at another time. Folks in the Old Testament didn’t get saved any other way than folks in the New Testament did. Redemption was given in hope of the coming of the Lamb of God in the Old Testament. The believer looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. In New Testament times (this present age) believers look back to the coming of the Kinsman Redeemer. But always there has been the twin towers of redemption and regeneration. The books of Hebrews, Romans and Galatians (and John) take great pains to show that salvation has always been the same in the Old and in the New Testament. By the way, whenever the new birth is discussed in the Bible, the birth always comes before the believing. First there is the birth - then there is the believing (Jn.3:3 - then Jn.3:16). What can a person do before he is born? Nothing. Can he make a quality decision before he is born? Can he make the most important decision of His life before he has even been born? Can he see before he is born? No. NO. NO! He can only believe after he has been born. The new birth is “from above” and thus is under the sovereign direction of God the Holy Spirit (Jn.3:8). He is prevenient in all His operations. Before anybody does anything, the Spirit has to give life. First life and then action. This shows the grace of God. We are alive to God because the Holy Spirit birthed us into His family. Hallelujah! “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?’” (v.4) And all the mothers said, “NO!” Old Nick can’t see past the physical in his understanding. He can’t see the kingdom of God. He’s thinking natural child birth and Jesus is talking spiritual. He doesn’t get it. And Jesus tells him so. “Jesus answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’” (v.5) There is no baptism in this verse of explanation by Jesus. Many read these words and see water baptism all over it. But the Lord is not talking ritual, sacrament or ordinance here. He is addressing Nicodemus’ dilemma. Nick is thinking physical birth and so Jesus contrasts that with the spiritual to show that there is a distinction. They are not the same thing. Jesus is not talking baptism here, He is talking physical birth. How do I know? Because He tells us so in the very next verse. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (v.6) The water of v.5 is the flesh of v.6. When a child is born of the flesh the mother’s water breaks. The child has been incased in water inside the mother’s womb. In order for him to come out the water must break. That is the physical birth of which Jesus speaks. He is informing the teacher of the Jews that his physical birth does not equip him to see the kingdom of God, nor enter it. Another birth is necessary to enter and see the spiritual kingdom. That is accomplished by the Holy Spirit. The natural man can see the miracles of God, but he cannot see the God of the miracles. Nicodemus had seen physical miracles with his physical eyes. He got those eyes at his physical birth. But more is needed to see the kingdom of God the Spirit. He must be born of the Spirit. “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” (v.7) That is the greatest work of the Holy Spirit, birthing people into the family of God. Giving life to dead spirits is the most necessary work of God the Holy Spirit. You must be born again. Throughout this conversation, Nicodemus has been confused. Every time he opens his mouth it seems he asked the question, “How?” He asks it in v.4 and then again in v.9. He doesn’t understand. He needs this explained to him. How does this happen? The Lord has a simply profound and profoundly simple explanation. It is not what you would expect. He doesn’t explain it so we’ll understand it. We cannot understand it. It is mysterious, as mysterious as the wind. “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (Jn.3:8) What a loaded verse, and so full of mystery. Beware those who would take the mystery out of the new birth. Renown believers will write books on how to be born again, totally ignoring the explanation Jesus gives here. The Master of all teachers does not give a step by step list of things dead people must do to explain “how” the new birth happens. Indeed, He does not give one thing for man to do. He simply talks about the wind. Both in the Hebrew and Greek languages the same word is used for spirit and for wind. “The wind,” said He, “blows,” and the very same word would have been employed if He had meant to say, “The Spirit blows where He wishes.” There is a very close and intimate parallel between the Spirit of God and the wind. The Bible uses several metaphors to explain the work of the Holy Spirit: dew, fire, oil and water. Here Jesus uses the wind. In Spurgeon’s sermon on this text he gives several likenesses of the wind and the Spirit. Both are mysterious in their operations. Weathermen are wrong most of the time for this very reason. Even with all their meteorological equipment they still get the forecast wrong about as much as they get it right. Why is this? Because weather is carried by the wind and the wind shifts - mysteriously. Jesus tells us why the meteorologists are wrong most of the time. “The wind blows where it wishes.” Its direction will shift in a moment. Jet streams will shift. We have cross currents, gales, tornadoes, hurricanes, upper and lower level air streams, and trade winds. Weathervanes turn and we know not why? We have such a hard time predicting where the wind is coming from and where it is going. The wind is very mysterious. So is the Holy Spirit in His operations.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 02:00:24 +0000
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