Our focus this morning will be on verses 1 to 10, the doctrine of the new birth or regeneration, essentially God's work in the heart of His elect wherein He makes them alive together with Jesus Christ. Certainly election and predestination have temporal priority or precedence over regeneration. but regeneration is that work of God behind the scenes. In other words, when a sinner believes the gospel, when a sinner repents from their sins, it's not because that sinner is a great guy. It's not because that sinner has exercised his will responsibly. but it's because God Most High has had dealings with him.
It is the reality that I read at the outset of worship. An Old Testament counterpart of John 3, 1 to 10 is Ezekiel the prophet, Ezekiel 36, 25 to 27. God makes us alive by His sovereign grace, by His power, and the first fruit of that, or one of the first fruits of that, is faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Regeneration or the new birth is first.
It comes prior to the exercise of faith. It's not that we believe and then we're born again. It could not be the case that somebody dead in their trespasses and sins could believe. God must make us alive first.
He must give us life and faith and repentance so that we may indeed close with Christ. But beginning in John 3 at verse 1. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 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.
Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 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? Jesus answered, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Flesh and Spirit: Like Produces Like
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. 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.
Nicodemus answered and said to him, how can these things be? Jesus answered and said to him, are you the teacher of Israel and do not know these things? Most assuredly I say to you, we speak what we know and testify what we have seen, and you do not receive our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
No one has ascended to heaven but he who came down from heaven, that is the son of man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.
Amen. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your written word, and we pray now for the ministry of the Holy Spirit. God, we confess our coldness to spiritual things.
We confess our waywardness. Certainly, as the hymn writer says, we attest, we are prone to wander and prone to leave the God that we love. We ask that you would revive our hearts, that you would warm our hearts, that you would cause us to receive the truth with thanksgiving. And for any and all who are dead in their trespasses and sins here this morning, we don't appeal to their ability, we appeal to the sovereignty and the power of God Almighty.
And we would ask that you would open eyes and hearts to the truth, that you would give the graces of faith and repentance so that Christ may be believed on and that Christ may indeed see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. And we pray these things through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Robert Raymond in his Systematic Theology highlights that Paul refers to the new birth as life-giving resurrection with Christ, and he points to Ephesians 2.5 and Colossians 2.13. As well, Paul highlights it's the divine work of new creation. It's that whole doctrine behind the Apostle's statement in 2 Corinthians 5. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.
This is regeneration. This is the new birth. This is the goodness of God in opening our hearts and giving us life. But Raymond goes on to say, it is particularly John, following the teaching of Jesus himself, however, who is in a unique sense the theologian of the birth from above.
In other words, if you read John, you will see that emphasis over and over again. He speaks of us being born of God. You'll see it as we move through our study this morning in not only this passage, but in 1 John as well. So what we have essentially in verses 1 to 10 are a dialogue with Nicodemus.
And then in verses 11 to 21 is Jesus' discourse on salvation. He highlights the efficacy of faith in his death for salvation. He highlights the greatness of God's love manifested at the cross, which I hope to look at tonight, specifically John 3, 16. And then highlights the condemnation that is upon those who continue to reject the Lord Jesus Christ and the mercy of the gospel itself.
But let's look at this dialogue, this interaction, this discussion between Jesus and Nicodemus.
Nicodemus's Question (vv. 1–2)
We'll look at, first of all, the question posed by Nicodemus in verses 1 and 2. Secondly, the response by the Lord Jesus in verses 3 to 8. And then thirdly, the indictment by the Lord Jesus in verses 9 to 10. Notice, verse 1, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
Now what Jesus is going to do in these next few chapters is deal with individual persons. He interacts with specific persons. Notice the end of chapter 2. It says in verse 24, Jesus did not commit himself to them because he knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for he knew what was in man.
We see that displayed in this passage. Nicodemus doesn't ask him, what must I do to enter into the kingdom of heaven? Jesus goes right to the point. Jesus addresses this very specifically because he knew what was in man.
In John chapter 4, he meets this Samaritan woman by the well, and he goes right to the point. Why? Because he knows what's in man. He is dealing with individuals.
He is dialoguing with persons. He has come into contact with sinners, and he is giving them spiritual truth. Now, this man is a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews. He was probably a ruler in terms of ecclesiology.
He was not a civil ruler, but an ecclesiastical one. He had a high position, perhaps in the Sanhedrin. He was a religious leader. He was a Pharisee.
He was a man that appeared right before all Israel. But as we survey the particular context, I think it highlights for us the spiritual bankruptcy of Israel at the time of our Lord. You see that not only in the temple cleansing in John chapter 2. I mean, if everything was right, Jesus wouldn't have to go in and cleanse the temple.
Jesus wouldn't have to go in and chase out the money changers. This is an indicator that it was spiritually bankrupt. And as we move through this passage, Christ upbraids this Pharisee and says, are you a ruler of the Jews and you do not know these things? It is a pathetic and a very bad thing when men who are tasked with preaching and teaching the Word of God do not know the Word of God.
It's a terrible thing when the men that are charged with preaching the truth do not know the truth themselves. That ought to be one of the first requirements when we look at men for the ministry. Have they come into saving union with Jesus Christ? Have they been conquered by the truth?
Do they know that truth? Do they love that truth? And can they explain that truth? That is absolutely essential for the elder in the church of Christ.
He must be apt to teach. I don't care what a great guy he may be. If he is not apt to teach, he is not supposed to be an elder. This is a tough pill for some people to swallow, but it's a pill we all ought to happily swallow, because Christ has stationed shepherds over his people. not as lords and not as authoritarians and not as tyrants, but as men who teach and preach the truth.
That's what shepherding's about. It's providing the sheep with the food of God for the good of their souls. You don't need micromanagement in your life. You need the faithful exposition of God's holy word.
So, Nicodemus is a ruler of the Jews and he doesn't know the prophet Ezekiel. This is a bad thing. Now, note when we come to this question. Again, it's not technically a question that Nicodemus asks.
Jesus answers a question, but Nicodemus doesn't pose it. But notice that he does have a term of respect for Jesus. Verse two, this man came to Jesus by night and said to him, there's a lot of ink spilled on why he came by night, fear, he was afraid. I don't know, the text doesn't tell us, but he came by night.
And there's certainly a night, light sort of motif going on in John's gospel all throughout. But he comes to him by night, he addresses him as rabbi. He will fare later in John's gospel, specifically in John 7 and as well in John 19. And he seems to be a decent man, this Nicodemus.
But he addresses him with this term of respect, and he also highlights or recognizes his power. And this is, again, this is how chapter 2 ends, verse 23. Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did. Brethren, a lot of us think that whenever we see they believed in his name, that must mean they were believers.
Not necessarily. In John 6, you will see that many of his disciples followed him no longer. They believed when they saw the signs that he was someone unique. They didn't necessarily believe in blood atonement.
They didn't necessarily believe in substitutionary curse bearing. They didn't necessarily believe in the Messiah Christ himself. And so, more than likely, Nicodemus was one of these people. But notice what he says at the end of verse 2.
He says, we know that you're a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with them. Now, I highlight all these things to make this very obvious application. He is a religious teacher, isn't he? He is a ruler of the Jews.
He shows Jesus common respect by highlighting that he's a rabbi. As well, he even recognizes something of the uniqueness of Jesus. He obviously came from God because no one can do the signs that you do unless God is with him. I mean, we might say that this man's religious resume is pretty solid up to this point.
But notice, Jesus says, you must be born again. This is the great lie of a man-centered religion, that if I try harder, if I do more, if I just get my act together, well then God will accept me the way that I am. No. This man was a ruler of the Jews who must be born again.
This man is a religious teacher who must be born again. This man pays respect to the Lord Jesus. He must be born again. He recognizes the power of the Lord Jesus as a man come from God.
He must be born again. Isn't this the great teaching of the apostle Paul in Philippians 3 as he's combating the Judaizing error? It's as if there was anybody out there in Judaism that could have earned their way to God, it would have been Paul. That's what he's doing in Philippians 3.
He marshals up his religious resume, not to pat himself on the back, but to highlight free grace. He was born of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised on the eighth day. Concerning the law, he was zealous. He was a Pharisee.
But all those things were done. All those things were lost. None of that would have ever commended my soul to God. I needed Christ.
And I didn't see I needed Christ until God regenerated me. He made me alive. He gave me the new birth. You see, there's a lot of lies in this world, and oftentimes perpetrated in the Christian church, that if we just do a little bit more, everything will be okay.
What's the logic of the apostle in Galatians 2.21? I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. I submit, and we'll see this as we move, why is Nicodemus perplexed? Why is he just bonkers with this teaching?
Not only can a man go back into his mother's womb, but later on in verse 9, how can these things be? This is the offense of Christianity. It's a redemptive religion. You see, if Jesus would have said, try harder, be better, Be a more moral you.
Love your wife more. Cut your lawn more. Pay your taxes more. That wouldn't have surprised Nicodemus.
It doesn't surprise the man of the world if we come and preach moralism to him. You got to try harder. You got to do better. You got to be more excellent.
That's not surprising. What is surprising is you must be born again. because you are in such a state that you are dead in your trespasses and sins. There is nothing in you to commend you to God. There is nothing in you to get you close to God.
You need to be renovated. You need to be revolutionized. You need to be reborn. You see, that's the message that perplexes the masses.
That is supernatural. That is a redemptive religion, and that is what Christ is preaching to this man.
Christ's Response (vv. 3–8)
Now note the response by our Lord in verses 3 to 8. Again, the absence of a question. He knew what was in man, and so He goes right to the heart of it in verse 3. Jesus answered and said to him most assuredly, this is one of those Amen, Amen.
This is a most truly this is one of those times when Jesus as it were says you really need to listen. Now we really need to listen to everything Jesus says whether it's here in John 3 3 or it's in Leviticus chapter 11. We need to listen to what Jesus said but there are these times and instances in our Lord's ministry where he underscores certain things and this is one of them. Most assuredly if he was writing on a Word document he would bold it He would underline it.
He would highlight it. He would say, you need to pay attention to what I have to say. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
The Necessity of Regeneration
He stresses here the absolute necessity of regeneration. You ever heard that? Oh, he's one of those born-again Christians. I got news for you.
If you're not born again, you're not a Christian. We've got two tiers in America, don't we? There's the Christians that do whatever, and they're name only, and then there are the born-again Christians. If you are not born again, you are not a Christian. if you have not been regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit, if you have not been made alive together with Christ, if you are not now believing the gospel by the power of God, which gospel alone is unto salvation, you are not a Christian.
It may be kosher in Canada and America to identify as a Christian if you're not a Muslim, you're not a Hindu, you're not a secular, whatever. That may be kosher in America or in Canada, But according to God's Word, unless you are born again, you're not a Christian. What's another word for a Christian? Believer.
Well, who are believers? They are the ones who God has regenerated. They are the ones whom God has made alive. Notice the progression in the passage.
He talks about regeneration before he ever gets to faith. And you need to appreciate something about verse 3. Jesus is not giving a command. Billy Graham has a book called How to be Born Again.
Can you imagine what that book says? But that's not what Jesus is doing here. It's not a command. Now, Nicodemus, I want you to go out and be born again.
It's not a command. Jesus is saying something from outside of you must happen to you. You are passive in this. It's not that you're active and you choose for God, which is Pelagianism.
It's not even that it's cooperation, which is Arminianism. You choose for God and then God does his part. That's not what's in view in the text. Something outside of you must happen to you.
You must be born again. The necessity of regeneration is taught here. And as well, we need to appreciate the word. When he says, you must be
"Born Again" or "Born from Above"
born again, the word can be translated born again or born from above. There are several places in scripture that we could look at both. It seems that Nicodemus understands it as again, because he speaks of a second birth going into his mother's womb in verse four. Whether it's from above or it's again, I think the main point is it's from God.
You need to be born from God, whether it's from above. He does that work from above, comes upon you, opens your eyes, opens your hearts, and in fact, gives you this new heart. In the language of the prophet Ezekiel, he takes out the old stony heart, and he puts in this new fleshly heart. Or whether it's born again.
You were dead in your trespasses, and since you've been born again. I don't think the point is, you know, that big of a difference, whether we define it as again or from above. But it's consistent with what we already find in John's Gospel in John 1. Notice, in John 1, verses 12 and 13.
Well, picking up in verse 10, he was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. Remember verse 10 for our study tonight in John 3.16, a lot of confusion about that word world. We see the word world and we think it must mean everybody. Well, here's three different uses of the word world in one verse.
He was in the world. That obviously means the earth, doesn't it? He wasn't on Mars. He wasn't in Neptune, he was in the world.
And the world was made through him. Well, according to John earlier, he made all things. The world in that sense is the cosmos, everything that is. And then it says, and the world did not know him.
Well, there it's used in an ethical sense. the men of the world, the fleshly ones of the world, the non-spiritual ones of the world. They rejected him. The word world does not always mean every single human being. It is the context which defines for us how a word is to be understood.
And in John 3, 16, it's Jews and Gentiles. I'll argue that in more detail later on this evening. But notice, he came to his own, and his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." It's a beautiful thing.
Notice in John 3, 3, "...most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." This seeing the kingdom answers to entering the kingdom in verse 5, and it means to be savingly participating in the kingdom. In other words, if you are not regenerate, if you are not born again, if you have not been born from above, if God Most High hasn't taken out the old stony heart and put in the new fleshly heart, you are not entering the kingdom of God. That is the emphasis of the particular passage in view. This is a repeated emphasis in the New Testament.
And I think the necessity of it is seen in many ways, but certainly because of the sinfulness of man. Why? is it that unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God? Because of our depravity, because of our filth, right? Rebecca and I got this little game last week.
It's called Pass the Pigs. It's quite an interesting little game. They're pigs that are dice. You roll the pigs and whatever position they end up in, you get points.
You know, there's a snouter and, you know, it's just an odd little kind of funny game. I would never think to have a pig sit at my table while I eat. I would never, if I lived on a farm, say to my children, make sure you get the pig, get Bessie, get the biggest, nastiest pig, and bring her to our table as we sit down tonight for a ham dinner. I just wouldn't do that.
There is no way that a filthy, vile, wretched, stinking sinner is going to sit at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Because God's holy. Read the end in Revelation 21 and 22 three times. Three times we are reminded of who is excluded from the New Jerusalem.
Why is John doing that? I think to warn the people who are reading, but as well to encourage the people that are reading. You may have beasts on this earth that are trying to destroy you, but when you get up into heaven, when you're in that new Jerusalem, that new heavens and new earth, there's no beast there. There's nothing that defiles.
There are no murderers. There's no liars. There's no cowards. There is none of that.
No fornicators, nothing. You see, we are excluded in Adam. In Adam, we all die. We don't have a desire.
Certainly, we may not want to burn forever in hell, but that ought not to be translated as, I want to be with God. There was a third option, not burn in hell or do whatever it is that I want to do. More people would take that and be where God is and to enjoy the benefits of the lamp, to be in the presence of the one who is altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. You see, we must be born again because we're wretched, we're sinful, we're vile.
The only way that a holy God is gonna receive sinful man is by making him alive. regenerating him, giving him eyes to see Jesus Christ, giving him faith to lay hold of Jesus Christ. Because when faith lays hold of Jesus Christ, faith is the instrument by which we receive the redemptive benefit of Christ. We are forgiven of our sins. We are cleansed, we are washed, we are purified, and we receive a righteousness such that God invites us to come and sit at his table.
We have new clothing, we have new garments, we are fit for heaven. So you see, you must be born again or else you cannot see the kingdom of God. Notice Nicodemus' response. Nicodemus says 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? Now notice the Lord Jesus Christ in his teaching illustrates, or rather Nicodemus illustrates the principle, doesn't he? Isn't he illustrating the very principle? When Jesus says, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit, Nicodemus is demonstrating that.
He's not a spiritual man. He's a religious man, he's a ruler man, he's an esteemed man, he might have a respect for Jesus sort of a man, but he's not a spiritual man. He misses the teaching on the new birth. He misses the reality of the doctrine of the necessity of regeneration.
This is told us by Paul in 1 Corinthians 2.14, but the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. That's kind of how his response is, isn't it? What do you expect? For me to go back into my mother's womb?
I don't know the tenor or the tone or the inflection of voice that Nicodemus had when he said this. I imagine he could have said it just like this. How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
He most likely could have. But as well, knowing human beings the way that we all do, he might have been a little fired up. What do you mean? You talk about being born again.
Am I supposed to trace down my mother, get her into a hospital, enter back into her womb, and come out again? This is what Paul says. He cannot receive the things of the Spirit. He cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." So he asks the question.
Now, notice the Lord's response. Verse 5, "'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.'" The Lord does not answer this way. Well, Nicodemus, this is the pathway to the new birth. This is the pathway to regeneration.
Believe first on me and then you'll be born again. This is the pathway to regeneration. Nicodemus, repent from your sin and then you'll be born. He doesn't answer.
He reaffirms what he says. He amplifies it a little bit with this reference to water and the Spirit. But I don't think it's a reference to baptism. A lot of commentators see baptism, water baptism in the passage. but it's not baptism, it's Ezekiel 36.
Water and Spirit: Ezekiel 36
Turn back there for just a moment. I'm sure you all remember because I just read it less than an hour ago, but just in case any of you are struggling with what exactly Ezekiel 36, 25 to 27 says, and I'm just being facetious, I don't remember exactly what Ezekiel said either. Notice in 25, this is a statement from God through the prophet concerning new covenant reality. New covenant reality, life under Messiah, regeneration, renewal, restoration.
And notice specifically, well, let's just pick up in verse 22. It's instructive. Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake. It's intriguing.
Salvation in the first place is for the glory of God. Salvation certainly benefits all of us, doesn't it? When we are saved by God's grace, when we, by God's grace, believe the gospel, when we've turned from our sins, yes, we benefit. Our wives benefit.
Our children benefit. Martin Lloyd-Jones says, the cat in a man's house benefits. Instead of coming home drunk and punting the cat from one end of the room to the other, the man now alive in Christ Jesus doesn't punt the cat anymore. So everyone wins.
But the primary emphasis in the salvation of sinners is the glory of God. Do you see that in the text? It's conspicuous. I don't know that the Lord can make it any more evident.
His honor. Yes, we benefit. Yes, others benefit, but it's the name of God Most High that's in view. Now note verse 24.
All the I wills in this section I mentioned before. Pelagians like to think that man makes the choice. Arminians like to think that man and God make the choice. Calvinists or Reformed people understand that God is monergistic.
God alone works. And if you trace out in this section the I wills, the only thing we will is that we'll remember our wickedness and loathe ourselves. But notice in verse 24, for I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Now notice, then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean.
I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols." You see, in John 3, 5, water is not a reference to baptism. It's a reference to something that a ruler of the Jews most certainly should have known. Israel was taught from the outset of the necessity of purification. There's a labor in the temple, a tabernacle temple complex, washing, purification.
What's Jesus saying? The new birth involves purification from the deadness and the stinking of your sin. And it certainly involves this new life in Jesus Christ, this blessed garment that he gives to us. But this idea of water, I think, is what the prophet is speaking of here.
Notice in verse 26, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them. You see, this is the new birth.
This is John 3. I think there's no better commentary on what Jesus is doing here with Nicodemus than Ezekiel 36. I think that this is what Jesus has in his mind. And I think that this is why he can upbraid Nicodemus and say, are you the teacher of Israel and you don't know this?
Didn't you pay attention to the prophet Ezekiel? Didn't you listen, Nicodemus? How are you missing this? How is this revolutionary?
How is this perplexing information? If anybody ever asks you, an unbeliever, somebody new to church, and they say, I've heard this statement born again. What does that mean? Take them to Ezekiel 36.
Say that God through his prophet then is telling what's going to happen when Jesus comes. It certainly happened to old covenant believers, but it's a feature of new covenant religion that must take place. And when Jesus comes and he tells this man Nicodemus, you must be born again or you cannot see the kingdom of God, there is divine necessity. It must be the case.
Notice, verse 6, Jesus says, the Spirit gives life. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Like gives life to like, right? In other words, the flesh gives birth to flesh, the Spirit gives birth to Spirit.
If we must have this change, if we are dead in Adam, we must be born again. We must be given new life. There must be this spiritual element or component. There must be this spiritual renovation.
Notice in verse 7, the biblical consistency. Again, I think the prophet Ezekiel. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. Don't be surprised by this.
If you've come here this morning and you say, you know, every Sunday these guys preach justification by faith alone. Yeah. And it's because of the glories of regeneration that persons believe it. Right?
You must be born again. Something must happen to you. Some would say, well, this hinders evangelism. I mean, if you tell a sinner there's nothing they can do, oh, I'm going to continue to tell you to believe.
I'm going to constantly press upon you the necessity to look unto Jesus for the salvation of your soul. But I'm not gonna think that somehow in you there resides this island of untouched free will wherein you can make up your mind as you please. I come into this pulpit because I believe in John 3. I believe there is a sovereign God in heaven and I believe that he works by and in and through the word.
And I believe that as that word goes forth, the God who gave it is the God who can enable compliance with it. that he is able to raise you under the preaching of the word to give you the gifts of faith and repentance so that you may close with Christ. I think that any other view of the new birth is actually the one that hurts evangelism. If I have to believe that it does depend on you, that's terrible. This world's a mess.
If I have to think that some of the people in this world, it depends on them, praise God it's from outside. Praise God that He comes and He reaches down and He saves the likes of you and I. We were not running after God, we were running from God. We weren't singing his praises, we were blaspheming his name.
I mean, we have enough problems now in the state of grace doing what we're supposed to be doing. We were dead in our trespasses and sins, worse than any pig on this earth ever smelt. It really is a bad comparison. It's unkind to pigs to say that they are no more worthy to sit at my table than a sinner is to sit at the table of God.
They are far more worthy to sit at our table than a sinner is to sit at the table of God. It's an insult to pigs, brethren. If you're gonna leave here saying, he's compared us to pigs. Yeah, and I'm apologizing to the pigs.
So I don't think we've come to grips with how bad the problem is. I really don't. I saw it somewhere in Luther, or I saw it somewhere about Luther, you know, one of those things that you're not sure is apocryphal enough or not. Something to the effect that if we really understood our sin, but for a moment we, I don't know if he said explode, but that's the meaning I got from it.
We'd fall apart. You say, well, how could he say that? I think he's biblical. I think he's on to something.
Remember in the year that King Uzziah died, the prophet saw the Lord high and lofty? What does the prophet say when he sees the Lord of Hosts? Hey, there's my buddy in heaven. Woe is me, for I am unholy.
Why? For my eyes have seen the king. You see, this seeing the king in his glory does not make us feel this buddyhood with him, but it caused the prophet to know something of his wretchedness. It caused him to know something of his sinfulness and his waywardness.
It caused him to say, I'm undone. I am ruined. So Luther was onto something in that respect. We need the spirit.
Biblical consistency, do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again.
The Wind and the Spirit's Sovereignty
And now note what Jesus says concerning 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 as everyone who is born of the Spirit. Here the Lord Christ highlights the invisibility and the mysteriousness of the Spirit's ministry, yet it is known in experience.
This morning as I was sitting in my chair, our back gate came unlatched and it was about that much play and there was enough wind to make it keep banging. And I kept hearing it, but not enough to get up off my chair and go down and secure it. But it really illustrated this. You can't see the wind, can you?
You say, yeah, but I see it. You see the effects. You see the effects when that gate, that pesky gate keeps banging. But you don't see the wind.
That's what Jesus is saying. You don't see the Spirit. We don't see Him in here this morning, do we? There He is, or He's over, no.
But we know His effects. We know His power. We know his ability because a formerly dead sinner now praises Jesus. A formerly dead sinner wants to sing Amazing Grace.
A formerly dead sinner wants to join John Wesley in saying, long my imprisoned spirit lie fast bound in sin and nature's night. You see, we know the effects, we see the effects, but we need to remember that they are the effects. The cause is the Spirit's work in our hearts and lives. We're not regenerate because we believe, we believe because we've been regenerated.
We believe because God has made us alive. We believe because God has saved us. We believe because God has changed our hearts. And as well, not only the invisibility and the mysteriousness, but also what is stressed by our Lord in this analogy with the wind is the sovereignty of the Spirit.
That's become popular. Not so much. I don't think I see it as much now. Of course, I guess if we went down to the Southern states in America, we'd see it more.
Revival meetings. We're having a revival meeting. Come tonight at 7.30 because the Spirit will be there. Now, I don't doubt the Spirit's omnipresence.
I just doubt scheduling Him for an appearance at one of our so-called revival meetings. He's sovereign. We don't stand at the origin of where the wind comes from and started. We don't, you know, sort of guide it to its final destination.
The spirit is sovereign in this work. It's not formulaic. Take these five easy steps and you'll be born again. Say this prayer and you'll be born again.
Do these things. You're at the mercy of a sovereign spirit. But I submit to you, there's no better place to be. No greater place to be.
Again, that idea that if we preach it this way, it kills hope. Sinners will hear this and say, there's no hope. There's great hope. You don't want to save yourself.
You don't typically want to be saved. But God is in the business of assembling a great church from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. There are multitudes, great multitudes, that no man can number. So I say that this view is the view that promotes hope.
God is about saving, God is defined, or one of God's things is seen in salvation. It's a beautiful, wonderful thing. The Spirit is sovereign, and as well, He is irresistible. Isn't that wonderful?
Brethren, if you could resist the Holy Spirit, you would. People get really bothered by that fourth point of Calvinism, the irresistible grace. Because, you know, my Uncle Chewy resisted it. It's talking about God's grace working on the heart of a man by the power of the Holy Spirit.
I don't doubt there's been a generation and a multitude of Uncle Chewy's that have heard the external call of the gospel, have turned a deaf ear, and have walked away. But when the Spirit of God works upon the heart of a man, it's irresistible. You know why? Because he changes the heart.
He makes men willing in the day of His power. It's not just a moral change. Oh, I don't want to steal anymore. It's what's called noetic or an intellectual change.
He changes the mind. And it's affectional or the will. You see, when God gets the heart, He gets the whole man. It's us that make this disconnect between head and heart and thumb and that.
When God changes the heart, the whole of man is affected by it. His mind, his thoughts, his will, his affections, the spirit that at one time he disdained and abhorred. When the spirit works upon him, yes, it's irresistible because he wants what the spirit is offering. He wants the Christ to whom the Spirit directs him.
He wants this one that's lifted up, like Moses lifted this brazen serpent in the wilderness. God is sovereign. John Murray says, if we recoil against this doctrine, we recoil against Christ himself, but he says, blessed be God that the gospel of Christ is one of sovereign, efficacious, irresistible regeneration. I say, Amen, John Murray, you're absolutely right.
And if you have not pondered the reality of that, then I submit you ought to.
Christ's Indictment (vv. 9–10)
Now notice the indictment. We've already somewhat rehearsed this. We'll just be quick here. But the question posed by Nicodemus in verse nine, how can these things be?
How can these things be? Note Jesus' response. Are you the teacher of Israel and do not know these things? The reason he upbraids him is because the scriptures testify.
See, it's not just Ezekiel. Deuteronomy 10, this emphasis on the circumcision of the heart. What do you think is in view in Deuteronomy 10 and Deuteronomy 30 when God says circumcision of the heart? He's talking about regeneration.
The logic in Colossians 2, 11, and 12 is not to say that baptism has in all points replaced circumcision. No, it's to say that circumcision and baptism, one from a prospective and one from a retrospective, is looking at regeneration. See, this isn't a doctrine that is developed here by our Lord. This is a doctrine that academia should have known.
It's a doctrine that everybody who names the name of Christ should know. It's a doctrine that we ought to embrace with great thankfulness as the regenerated ones.
The Design of Regeneration
Well, brethren, quickly in conclusion, the design behind regeneration. I'm gonna appeal to our confession here because I think it says it so beautifully. Now, you won't find a particular chapter on regeneration or the new birth when you look at the Second London Confession of 1689, but you'll see the chapter 10 on effectual calling. And the two are very closely combined.
Again, the wording is similar. There are distinctions between effectual calling and regeneration, which we simply don't have the time to do at this particular point, but they're close enough and connected enough to just appeal to what our confession says with reference to this effectual calling, this regeneration, this new birth that God gives to His elect. It is to call men out of the state of sin and death they are in by nature. To go back to our pig analogy, get them out of the slop, get them out of the mud, get them out. to call men to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ.
Now, this doesn't happen, you know, one of them happens on Monday, 2016, and, you know, the next thing takes place on a Tuesday, 2017. No, no, you know, this is a sort of a logical, you know, taking apart the doctrine, but regeneration, it's not, you know, something, as I said, it happens in bits and pieces. I'm a little bit regenerate, I'm getting there. No, you're either regenerate or you're not.
It's like pregnant. You either are or you're not. There's no, I'm kinda pregnant. To call or to enlighten men and to enlighten their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God.
See, that's a fundamental problem with man and sin. He does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. Now, there may be some level where he can understand. He understands you shall not murder.
He understands the concept of Jesus' life, death, and ministry, but he doesn't understand it. He hasn't appropriated it. He doesn't see it the way that a regenerate man sees it. I mean, I'm sure that you've had this experience prior to your conversion to Christ, which is the faith and repentance by which we close with Christ, gifts given by God, But prior to your conversion, you probably heard scripture.
You probably may have even understood some scripture. But after conversion, what happens? That scripture becomes alive, doesn't it? It's a different thing, isn't it?
And it's hard to explain to some. It's kind of like trying to describe a color to a blind man. How do you describe red to someone who's never seen red? How do you describe blue to somebody who's never seen blue?
How do you describe mango to somebody who has no sense of taste? Well, it's good. It's about all we can do, right? It's that way in spiritual things, isn't it?
It's like that man born blind in John chapter 9. He essentially says to the first, I don't know what you're all talking about, but this Jesus healed me. I was blind, I couldn't see, and now I can see. I don't know how else to explain it.
It's the same for us after having come to Christ. Many of us had come into contact with the Bible at some point. We read it. It was like, you know, a Japanese phone book.
Then by God's grace, we were converted. We were saved. We have eyes to see it. It's like, wow!
It's not magical. The words didn't start moving or anything like that. But the Spirit is in us. We are new men and women in Christ.
We have been enlightened, we have been renewed, we have been remade, we have been reborn by the power of God Almighty to take away their heart of stone and give to them a heart of flesh, to renew their wills and by His almighty power to determine them to that which is good. See, apart from God's grace, we are determined to that which is bad. Do you ever look at the world and say, wow, this can't just be bad politics. There's got to be further explanations for what the problems facing the world is, isn't there?
Yeah, it's sin, it's rebellion, it's enmity against God. It's when the creature has raised its fist at the Creator and said, no, God, well, that's what you get, a world that looks like this. And so God, in regeneration, remakes us. And by His almighty power determines us to that which is good.
Now, we don't do that which is good perfectly, unfortunately, but we have the will. And then to effectually draw them to Jesus Christ, being made willing by His grace. John Murray said, Regeneration is the beginning of all saving grace in us, and all saving grace and exercise on our part proceeds from the fountain of regeneration. We're not born again by faith or repentance or conversion.
We repent and believe because we have been regenerated. That's a difference, theologically, between what's called Arminianism and Calvinism. Those who think that they believed and therefore were born again are simply wrong. We are regenerated.
We are made alive. We are renewed. We are transformed by God's taking out the heart of stone and putting in the heart of flesh. And the first thing is faith.
It's looking to Christ. It's believing in him. Again, it doesn't happen that you're regenerated on January 1st, 2017, and then you'll believe the gospel on January 1st, 2018. We're making just logical distinctions here.
Necessity and Efficient Cause
Secondly, the necessity of regeneration. I think we've dealt with this, the word of Christ. Jesus says you must be born again. Guess what?
You must be born again. We've dealt a bit with the depravity of man being a chief cause for the necessity of regeneration. The holiness of God. Brethren, I think we ought to ponder the holiness of God more often than we do.
We ought to consider how glorious and how wondrous and how majestic he is. How the prophet said his eye is too pure to approve any evil. Boy, we're not like that, are we? We need to consider the holiness of God Most High.
Nicodemus was a religious man and even a teacher of spiritual things and he needed to be regenerated. He saw Christ's signs, he needed to be regenerated. He showed respect to Jesus, he needed to be regenerated. We need to appreciate in this passage the efficient cause of regeneration.
I hope you've already gotten it. It ain't us. It's the Holy Spirit. It's God Almighty.
It's monergism. Monergism means one working. Synergism is two working together. We believe in monergism, God most high.
Specifically, the Holy Spirit effectually calls, regenerates, grants the graces of faith and repentance. Murray, again, highlighting this reality. If it were not the case that in regeneration we are passive, again, the verbs in the passage suggest as much. You must be born again.
Passive. I command, hey Nicodemus, go out and be born again. No, you must be born again. Murray says, if it were not the case that in regeneration we are passive, the subjects of an action of which God alone is the agent, there would be no gospel at all.
For unless God by sovereign operative grace had turned our enmity to love and our disbelief to faith, we would never yield the response of faith and love. It just wouldn't happen. He goes on to say, regeneration is at the basis of all change in heart and life. It is a stupendous change because it is God's recreative act.
A cheap and tawdry evangelism has tended to rob the gospel, which it proclaims of that invincible power, which is the glory of the gospel of sovereign grace. May the church come to think and live again in terms of the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation.
Application: Look and Live
Now, if you are not a Christian here this morning, do not leave here saying, I wonder if I'm regenerate. Believe the gospel. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Look and live.
Just as Moses lifted the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted. That whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. That's the emphasis, that's the command, that's what you are called to. Look to Jesus Christ.
If you are believing in Jesus Christ, it's like that gate that's moving in the wind. It's moving in the wind because the wind came and pushed it. I'm believing presently because of the power of the regenerating work of God Most High. And brethren, those who confess saving faith in Christ, those who are believers, those who have sung with Wesley, long by imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin in nature's night, thine eye diffused a quickening ray, I woke the dungeon flamed with light, my chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth and followed thee.
Interesting, for an Arminian to get it right in that clause, that's regeneration. He doesn't cooperate here, my chains fell off, my heart was free. Then I rose, went forth and followed thee. God's work preempted the rising and the following.
But those of us who confess faith in Christ, the fruits of regeneration, certainly faith in Jesus, 1 John 5, 1. John also says that those who are born of God practice righteousness. Maybe we want to pause for a moment here. See, when that gate's moving in the wind, you realize the wind's been by.
When somebody's practicing righteousness or pursuing those things which are pleasing to God, because they're pleasing to God, the Spirit's been at work. And if there is no pursuit of righteousness, it may be the case that you've grown lazy, you've grown apathetic, you have grown lethargic and you need to repent, or it may be the case that you must be born again. As well, you know what one of the fruits of regeneration is? According to John in 1 John, those who are born of God do what?
They love the brethren. They love the brethren. We know that we have passed from death to life because what? We love brethren.
We'd rather be here with one another on a Sunday morning than doing whatever else, right? We love God and we love the brethren. Do you ever come here maybe a bit sluggish and a little bit heavy hearted and a little bit cold and you see the brethren and it just makes it all better? Makes it a happy place?
That's what the brethren are for. We need to love one another. If we had been born of God, those who are born of God love those who are in the family of God. That means they love them, they pray for them, they encourage them, they call them, they visit them, they care for them.
Brethren, love for the brethren is a fruit of regeneration. Another fruit, according to John, is overcoming the world and the wicked one. Greater is he that is in the world than he that is in you. You can never say it was so bad out there, the temptations were so strong, I had to succumb.
You are a blood-bought child of God Most High, whom the Holy Spirit has taken out the old dead stony heart and put in a new fleshly heart. He has directed you to Christ. You have believed by grace. You have repented by grace.
He is not going to do that great thing and then leave you on your own. It's Paul's logic in Romans 8. He who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all. How shall we not freely with him give us all things?
He's going to hang his son on a cross to die for your sins and not be there on a Thursday when you need help to avoid a particular temptation? Banish the thought, Christian. You are born as a child of God. The Father takes care of his own.
Right? It's John's point, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. She cannot say the devil made me do it, the world made me do it. No, God's grace is sufficient.
Brethren, I hope that we live in light of the reality that by God's grace, we have been born again. Again, if you are not a believer here this morning, the point is not to go home and to search your heart and to say, am I regenerate? Am I born again? Or to go further behind the scenes and say, am I predestined?
Am I elect? Look and live. Believe the gospel. Look to the one alone in whom is forgiveness.
Look to the one alone who receives sinners. That's the emphasis that you need to hear today. That's the alarm you need blown in Zion that you believe on the son of God. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the Word of God and we thank you for this doctrine of regeneration where you take filthy, vile, helpless, wretched sinners and you make them alive through your power, through your sovereignty, through your excellency and efficacy. How we thank you that you have granted us the graces of faith and repentance to close with our Savior, and God, help us to live as children in the family of God. Help us to pursue and practice righteousness, and help us to love one another, and help us, by your grace, to overcome the world, not in some triumphalistic, weird, prosperity gospel sense, but just being faithful, day in and day out, resisting the temptations that are so quickly offered in this world. Grant us all grace, God, to go from this place rejoicing in you, our Father.
And may you reach down through the power of the Holy Spirit and save sinners. For the praise of the glory of your grace. And we pray these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.