Jesus surprised Nicodemus when He declared that no one can enter God’s kingdom without first being born again. Many people today are just as surprised. What is this rebirth? From his sermon series in the gospel of John, today R.C. Sproul addresses the doctrine of regeneration. Get R.C. Sproul’s commentary on the gospel of John for your donation of any amount: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/3732/john-commentary Revisit Ligonier Ministries’ recent 2024 year-end update to hear the Lord is using your support of this teaching fellowship to equip the global church: https://ligm.in/4f5OjRW Meet Today’s Teacher: R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was known for his ability to winsomely and clearly communicate deep, practical truths from God’s Word. He was founder of Ligonier Ministries, first minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew’s Chapel, first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine. Meet the Host: Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of ministry engagement for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, host of the Ask Ligonier podcast, and a graduate of Presbyterian Theological College in Melbourne, Australia. Nathan joined Ligonier in 2012 and lives in Central Florida with his wife and four children.
You may have been born in a Christian home. You may have been raised in a Christian home or reared in a Christian home, and you may have been instructed and gone to a Christian school, gone to a Christian college. None of those things make you a Christian.
That which is born of the flesh, your natural birth, all that gives to you is flesh, and flesh of that sort is powerless to enter into the kingdom of God.
One of the most famous conversations recorded for us in the Bible is the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus at night in John chapter 3. And what they discuss is of vital importance for each and every one of us. I'm glad you're joining us for this Sunday edition of Renewing Your Mind. I'm Nathan W. Bingham. Each Sunday, we feature the preaching ministry of R.C.
Sproul, the founder of Ligonier Ministries and the first minister of preaching and teaching at St. Andrew's Chapel. We're still in a short sermon series in John's Gospel, which means that until midnight tonight, you can request the hardcover edition of Dr. Sproul's line-by-line walk through the Gospel of John when you give a year-end donation of any amount at renewingyourmind.org.
So what did Jesus mean when He told Nicodemus that people need to be born again? And is it ever proper for us to call ourselves born-again Christians? Here's Dr. Sproul.
Our Scripture this morning is taken from the third chapter of the Gospel according to Saint John, beginning at verse 1, reading through verse 17. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. And 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.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. 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, 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, 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 into 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. That God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who has ears to hear the Word of God, let them hear. I said to Vesta this morning,
I don't know how many times I've preached on this chapter in John, and I said to her, I hope for the first time I'll do something right with this text, because I find it is one of the most difficult texts in all of the New Testament to deal with adequately. I remember the first time I read it,
In my maiden reading of the New Testament as a brand-new Christian, and as I read it, I was astonished that Nicodemus didn't understand what Jesus was talking about as I read this text as a brand-new Christian. I said, I know exactly what Jesus is talking about here. That's just what has happened to me. I've had a new birth, a new life. I've come alive to the things of God.
Why can't this teacher of the Jews understand that? And so the next year as a college student, I signed up for a whole course in the gospel of John.
And after the course started in the first couple of weeks, our professor became ill, had to have surgery, and could not complete teaching the course, so they brought in a man in his 80s who had been an internationally famous theologian in the first 25 years of the 20th century, and he taught and gave an examination that included a question on John 3. I said, oh boy, I know what this means.
I got a C on that paper. because I didn't begin to understand what was contained in this discussion. And so I still struggle with it. There's so much to be found in it. But I think it's important for us to see that there's a carryover between the last verse of chapter 2 and the introduction of chapter 3. Chapter 2 ends with these words,
But Jesus did not commit Himself to them because He knew all men. And he had no need that anyone should testify of man, for he knew what was in man. And what follows now in John's narrative coming from the life of Jesus are a series of encounters that Jesus has with various people like Nicodemus, the woman at the well, and so on. And in each of these meetings,
we see Jesus piercing the hearts of those with whom He speaks and indicating that He knows what's going on in their lives. And so chapter 3 begins with this introduction of Nicodemus. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews. Not all of the Pharisees were elevated to membership in the Sanhedrin, which was the ruling body of the Jewish people.
This would be akin to a senator in the United States Senate. This is a man of very high authority in the government of the affairs of the Jewish people who is also skilled as a theologian, or at least he's supposed to be. and we're told that he came to Jesus by night. John doesn't tell us why he came at night.
Maybe he was too busy during the day, or maybe, as many guess, he was a little bit embarrassed about being seen publicly with this Jesus who was gaining some kind of a reputation, which was basically negative among the Pharisees and the rulers of the Jews. So maybe
Nicodemus was seeking the cover of darkness and hoping for a clandestine meeting with Jesus so that he could interrogate Him in private. But for whatever reason, John tells us, he comes at night and he says to Jesus, "'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." Notice the words, we know. At this point,
Nicodemus is not using the imperial plural or the editorial we, but rather he is speaking not only for himself, but at least for some other members of that ruling body of the Jews, some other Pharisees. He's speaking in a perspective of collegiality. He is saying, Jesus, we know.
that you're a bona fide, authentic teacher, that you deserve the title rabbi, and we are prepared to welcome you into our club, as it were. Now notice that in this opening statement, he said, we know something about you. And what is it that they know? We know that you are a teacher sent from God, or you wouldn't be able to do the signs that you have been doing. That was a sound judgment.
And you notice Jesus' response. What does He say? Yeah, I really appreciate that. I'm glad that you noticed and that you're welcoming into your club and you're giving this kind of affirmation to me. Jesus doesn't need so much to say thank you very much. Remember, He knows what's in man, and He knew what was in Nicodemus, and in Jesus' characteristic way, He goes straight to the heart of the issue.
Jesus was sent by the Father. And he was not sent to the diplomatic corps. Jesus was not trained and skilled as a diplomat. He wasn't interested in diplomacy. He was interested in truth and in redemption. And so he goes right to the center of the matter with Nicodemus, and he says, most assuredly, I don't like that translation. What's it say? Here's what it says. Amen, amen.
truly, truly, I say to you. Now, the translator is trying to get the flavor of that when he says, most assuredly, most certainly, because that's what amen, amen means, but it even means more than that. It's more than most assuredly. It's multi-maximal most assuredly. It's as assuredly as it can ever be when Jesus introduces a declaration by these words, amen, amen, I say unto you.
And so, he says, mark this carefully, Nicodemus, what I'm telling you is the unvarnished truth, and here's what he says. Unless one, anyone, any person is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Remember that when Jesus comes onto the scene in His earthly ministry, He comes announcing the radical breakthrough of what?
Repent, following after the same message of John the Baptist, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.
And in Jewish literature, the kingdom of God refers in the final analysis to heaven, to the abode where the reign of God is made manifest, and only those who are members of the family of God, only those who are members of the invisible church, only those who are truly converted, those who are truly in Christ will ever see the kingdom of God. Everyone else will miss it.
And so Jesus says, mark this, truly, truly, I say unto you, unless, and as I've labored this point many times with you, that word unless ought to get your antennae up when you see it in the New Testament because it signals the coming of a necessary condition. a sine qua non. Something has to happen before some desired consequence will follow.
And in this case, the desired consequence is seeing the kingdom of God. And Jesus is saying, Nicodemus, unless something happens, nobody's going to see the king. Now there's a question about exactly how Jesus says this because of the word that is used here. It could be translated, unless a person is born from above, rather than born again.
But the significance and the meaning is the same either way, because Jesus is obviously referring that everybody's born from below. We all have a natural biological birth. But Jesus said in addition to our natural birth, there has to be something more before we ever see the kingdom of God, and that is a supernatural birth.
And so in this discussion, Jesus is saying that it is a necessary condition to participate in the kingdom of God that a person be supernaturally born from above, born by the Holy Ghost. Now Nicodemus says to him, What? 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, again, Nicodemus is a doctor of the church. He's not stupid.
He's not unskilled and not uneducated, and yet he asks a question that is as crass as a man can be. How much more insulting can he be to Jesus when he says, what are you talking about? Are you suggesting that a man has to enter a second time in his mother's womb to be born? What a ridiculous idea that is. And this response of Nicodemus just reeks of cynicism. Jesus says again, amen, amen.
Truly I say to you, Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, you can't enter the kingdom of God. Now He changes a little bit differently. Not only does He say you have to be reborn, born from above, now He talks about entering the kingdom rather than seeing the kingdom.
You can't even see it, let alone enter it, but now He's talking about actually becoming a part of the kingdom of God, and Jesus says you can't do that unless you're born of the water and of the Spirit. Oh, dear people, how I wish I knew what Jesus meant when He says this, but I don't. I've struggled with this text for forty years and then some. What does He mean by the water and the Spirit?
I know what He means by the reference to the Spirit. He's talking about being born from above, born by the power of the Holy Spirit. What's the significance of the water? Some people see in this text an oblique reference to baptism and what Jesus is saying is you have to be baptized in water and regenerated by the Holy Ghost in order to come into my kingdom.
But there's no reason in the world why Jesus would expect a teacher of Israel to understand that. I think we have to look to the Old Testament use of water and this combination of the term water and spirit to the Old Testament to understand what Jesus is getting. In the Old Testament, prophets, particularly in the book of Ezekiel, for the valley of the dry bones,
For the death of the souls of Israel to be renewed, two things had to happen. They had to be purified, and they had to be resurrected by the power of God. And so the two things I hear, and I think I'm right, but I could be wrong here, but I think what Jesus is saying is Nicodemus, everybody out there who's unregenerate is impure and and spiritually dead.
And as long as you're impure and spiritually dead, you'll never enter into the kingdom of God. And so to enter into the kingdom of God, you have to be purified, and you have to be raised from spiritual death. You have to be quickened by the power of the Holy Ghost, and you have to be cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost. water, and spirit.
Then he says to Nicodemus, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit is spirit. Now, I don't know how many people I've met in my life who believe that they were born Christian. Nobody in this room was born a Christian The flesh does not produce redemption. This was a common error that Jewish people made. We're the descendants of Abraham.
They thought that just because they were Jews and biologically their heritage was in Abraham that therefore they were going to enter into heaven and that they were numbered among the people of God. And the New Testament teachers as well as the Old Testament prophets had to teach the people that error. That is not the case. You may have been born in a Christian home.
You may have been raised in a Christian home or reared in a Christian home, and you may have been instructed and gone to a Christian school, gone to a Christian college. None of those things make you a Christian. That which is born of the flesh, your natural birth, all that gives to you is flesh, and flesh of that sort is powerless to enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit, and unless you are born of the Spirit of the living God, whatever you do in your flesh will avail nothing towards entering into the kingdom of God. And so now Jesus says to Nicodemus, do not marvel. Don't be surprised.
Don't be astonished that I just said this to you, that I just said categorically that nobody's going to enter the kingdom unless they're born of the water and of the Spirit. Unless you're born from above, you're not going to make it. Why are you surprised, Nicodemus? The wind blows where it wishes. You hear the sound of it. Can't tell where it comes, where it goes.
So is everyone who's born of the Spirit. Here He's making a play on the word pneuma in the Greek. It means the same thing as the word ruah in Hebrew. It can mean wind or breath or spirit. And so Jesus plays with the word here. He says, you have to be born of the Spirit, and it's like the wind. The pneuma is like the pneuma. It blows wherever it wants.
And the wind is powerful, but you can't see it. You can see the consequences of it. You can see the manifestation of its power, but you don't know where it's coming from, where it's going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit because spiritual rebirth is the work of God.
When Paul speaks in Ephesians 2 about being quickened by the Holy Ghost while we're dead in sin and trespasses, he's talking about regeneration, which is a supernatural work. It is a work done from above by the immediate power of God, and it is something that only God can do. You cannot make yourself be reborn. any more than Lazarus could have brought himself out of the tomb.
Just as you did not do anything for your natural birth except be born, so your rebirth is a matter of the mercy and grace of God.
And aren't we thankful for God's mercy and grace? It honestly leaves me speechless sometimes as I think about the sovereign mercy and grace in my own life. Today's message on Renewing Your Mind was a sermon from R.C. Sproul that he preached while he served at St. Andrew's Chapel, a Presbyterian church in Sanford, Florida.
And these sermons in John were the beginning of a project to produce a commentary on John's gospel. You can walk through this popular gospel, often the first one to be read by new believers, with R.C. Sproul as your guide when you request his hardcover commentary with your year-end donation of any amount at renewingyourmind.org.
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Make your donation before midnight tonight, and we'll get this commentary on John's gospel in the mail as our way of saying thank you and to help you dig deeper into this gospel. Jesus continued his conversation with Nicodemus and told him that the Son of Man must be lifted up. Find out what he meant next Sunday, here on Renewing Your Mind. Renewing Your Mind