Now if you'll open your Bibles
to the third chapter of John. Let's read the first few verses
together, John chapter 3. There was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus
by night and said unto him, We know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest
except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now this man, Nicodemus,
who came to our Lord on this particular occasion, first of
all, was a very religious individual. We know that. He was a Jew. He was a descendant of Abraham.
He was a man who kept faithfully the Sabbath day. He kept all
of the ceremonies. He obeyed all of the commands
of Moses. He took care of all the feast
days, he went to the temple regularly, he tithed his income, he fasted
so many times a week, and he gave alms to the poor. He was
a very religious man. The second thing we know about
this man Nicodemus, now apply this, let's apply this to ourselves. If he had been living today,
he would be here in church this morning, or in somebody's church.
When the offering plate was passed, he would have placed carefully
ten percent of his income in that offering plate. He would
have already read the scriptures this morning, he would have already
took care of his morning devotions. This entire day would have been
spent, if Nicodemus were living today, this entire day would
be spent in reading the word of God, in fasting and in prayer. He was a most devout, religious
man. Now the second thing about him,
he was a highly educated man. Nicodemus was no dummy. The scripture
says here he was a ruler, a ruler of the Jews. Nicodemus was a
leader. If he had been living today,
he would be one of the elders of the church, one of the deacons,
he would be the Sunday school superintendent, or he would be
the pastor. He was a leader. He was well-read, he was a teacher
of other men. Nicodemus sat in the councils
of the chief priest. He would be meeting in the office
of the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, if he were
living today, or he would be meeting in the office of the
highest-ranking officials in the Catholic Church or the Presbyterian
Church or the Methodist Church. He sat with the chief priest. and the chief counselors of Israel. He was a top man among the Jews. Thirdly, Nicodemus was an outwardly
moral man. He was a Pharisee. The Pharisees
kept the Ten Commandments. They kept the law of Moses. This was their righteousness.
This was their hope of salvation. This was their hope of acceptance
with God. This man would never knowingly,
willingly, outwardly lie. This man would never steal. This
man would never take God's name in vain outwardly. This man would
never kill anyone outwardly. Now, inwardly is another problem.
But outwardly, these men took careful pains to keep the Ten
Commandments so that they could sit in judgment on those who
broke them. They were the judges of other
men. It was the Pharisees who brought
to the Lord the woman found in adultery and demanded her death,
that the Lord have her stoned. So he was outwardly clean and
moral and religious. Now in the fourth place, and
we might apply this to ourselves, He was a perceptive man. He was
a thinking man. He was a man who gave credit
to Jesus Christ. He showed by his statements that
he was at least aware, not only of the person of Christ, but
of the power of Christ. He was aware of the greatness
of Christ. He showed that here. He said
no man could do these things you do, except God be with him.
I know you're from God. We know that you are a teacher
from God. We know that. We know Jesus Christ
is a special person. If he had been living today,
he would have promoted this Jesus superstar. He would have promoted
the Ten Commandments movie. He would have promoted the movie
King of Kings. He would have promoted Ben-Hur.
He would have promoted anything that spoke of or adhered to the
greatness of Jesus Christ. He spoke highly of Christ. In
fact, Nicodemus is mentioned in the New Testament about three
times, that is, in the first four books in the Gospels. In
John 3 here, when he came to Christ and Christ, he told him,
we know your teacher come from God, but in John 7, verse 50,
Nicodemus was the man who stood on the floor of the meeting between
the chief priest and the counselor and defended Jesus Christ. Some
of you men in business may say, Well, I speak highly of Christ
in my business meetings and in the gathering of city officials. When the commissioners and the
city officials and these folks meet, I lead in prayer. Well,
Nicodemus would have done the same thing. He would have done
the same thing. He spoke highly of Christ. He
said in John 7, verse 50, Does our Lord judge any man before
it hears him? This man, Jesus, ought to be
heard. He stood on the floor of the chief counselors of Israel
and defended Jesus Christ. And then when the Lord Jesus
died in John 19, verse 39, when Christ gave his life, when he
suffered on the cross for our sins, was crucified, and when
he died, Nicodemus helped bury him. And Nicodemus brought some
of the spices and precious ornaments to the burial of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He was very careful about this.
He thought Christ was really something. It says here that
he came to the burial of Christ, John 19.39 is where it's found,
with precious ornament and spices. So there you have this man. He was religious more than we
are. He was highly educated in the
fundamentals of Judaism and other religions more than we are. He
was an outwardly moral man more than we are. He was a perceptive
man and courageous. He had a lot of courage. It took
courage to stand on the floor of that counsel of Jews and speak
of Christ Jesus. What was the message Christ had
for him in verse 7 of John 3? Marvel not that I said unto thee,
Don't be amazed that I said it to you, Nicodemus. Don't be amazed
that I said to you, You must be born again. I said it to you. Religious, educated, courageous,
perceptive, moral, I said it to you. You must be born again. Now, I'm going to stay right
with this text. It's vital, it's necessary to
every man. In verse 3, note two things before
I get right into the message now. Verse 3, Christ said, Nicodemus,
except a man be born again, he cannot see. That is, he cannot
understand. He cannot be acquainted with
the kingdom of God, except he's born again. He can't see, perceive
what it's all about. And in verse 5, Christ said,
Except a man be born of water, that is, of the grace of God
and of the Spirit of God, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. It's an impossibility. He cannot
enter into the kingdom of God. Now, the first two words of verse
7. We're going to look at two important
words in verse 7. My text is verse 7, just five
words. You must be born again. That's what Christ said to this
man over and over again. You must be born again. Now,
the two words we look at first are the word born again. What
is it to be born again? Preachers preach about it and
folks talk about it. Are you born again? Preachers
talk about being born again. Well, nobody takes the time to
define it. I just doubt if very many people
in religious circles can actually define being born again. What does it mean to be born
again? You must be born again. Well, what does it mean? Well,
we know this. We know it's more than getting
religion. Nicodemus had plenty of that.
Being born again is a lot more than getting religion. Nicodemus
had his share of that. His whole life was religion.
His whole life was theology. His whole life was laws and ceremonies
and rituals and rules for morning to night and fastings and devotions
and meditations and scripture and prayers and all kneelings
and all of these things. Being born again is more than
just getting religion. This man had plenty of religion.
He had enough religion to share with all of us. You know, it's
more than that. Being born again is more than
getting religion. And secondly, it's a lot more
than ceremony and ordinances. It's more than, what are ordinances? Well, baptism is ordinance, the
Lord's Supper is an ordinance. Ceremonies, it's more than that.
Being born again is more than ceremonies. This man had been
circumcised, he'd been catechized, He'd been consecrated, he'd been
dedicated, he'd been confirmed, he'd been reconfirmed and reordained
and rededicated and everything you can imagine. He'd gone through
all of these ceremonies. If he lived today, he would be
sprinkled as an infant. He'd be catechized as a child,
he'd be confirmed when he was twelve years old, he'd probably
be dipped and immersed also, he'd be ordained. All of these
things would have been done to him because he went through the
whole picture book. He'd had all of it. He'd been
involved in all the ceremonies and all the candlelight services
and the soft music and the laying on of hands and all of this thing. But being born again is more
than that, because Christ said to him, you must be born again.
And it's more than trying to keep the law. Paul was a Pharisee like Nicodemus,
the Apostle Paul was a Pharisee. He said, a Pharisee of Pharisee,
before he was born again. And he said that the righteousness
of the Pharisees is in the law, and their righteousness concerning
the law was blameless, blameless, blameless. So being born again
was a whole lot more than a law morality. Nobody listening to
my voice right now or later this week, no one listening to my
voice. is one-half as law-abiding as
Nicodemus, not one-half. But he wasn't born again. If you've got any ears, you'd
better listen this morning. You'd better listen. What is it to be born again?
First of all, I'm going to define it. First of all, the author
of the new birth is the Holy Spirit. He's the author of it. Christ said in verse 5, or verse
6, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is
born of the Spirit is Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the author
of the new birth, the Holy Spirit of God. You cannot give yourself
spiritual life The preacher cannot give you spiritual life. I don't
care how gifted he is or how famous he is, he cannot give
you spiritual life. Your mother and father cannot
give you spiritual life. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. Your mother and father can't
give you but one thing, and that's sin, a sinful nature, an evil
nature. The work of regeneration, the
work of life-giving, the work of awakening, the work of quickening
is of the Holy Spirit of God. He is the agent and author of
the new birth. It comes from Him. Christ said
down here in verse 8, The wind bloweth where it listeth, where
it pleases. And you can hear the sound of
the wind, and you can see the effects of the wind, but you
can't tell from whence it cometh, and you can't tell whether it
goeth. so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. As the Spirit of God moved on
the dead, dry bones in Ezekiel's valley, he moves on dead sinners
to give them life. He gives life to whom he pleases
and where he pleases and when he pleases. This new birth, first
of all, is a work of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, the means. Now, the author of the new birth
is the Holy Spirit. It's not the preacher, it's not
the altar, it's not the water, it's not the bread, nor the wafer,
it's not the church. The author of the new birth is
the Holy Spirit. And secondly, the means of the
new birth, and that's the reason when you come to the house of
God you ought to listen. If you can find somebody preaching
anything, that's the hardest thing in the world today to find,
is somebody preaching anything. There's nothing to listen to.
But the means of the new birth is the Word of God. This Word
right here. Turn to James 1.18. I want you
to turn over here because I want you to read this with me. James
1.18. Now, the author of the new birth,
this spiritual birth, is the Holy Spirit. He gives it. We're
born the first time of our natural parents. We're born the second
time of our parent, God Almighty. We're born the first time of
natural seed, the seed from our Father that is placed within
our mother and gives us life. We're born the second time of
incorruptible seed, the Word of God. Now listen to this in
James 1.18. of his own will beget." Now, to beget, you know, is to
conceive, to give life. "...of his own will beget he
us." How? With the word of truth. With the word of truth. Now,
turn to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1, verse 23. Now, this
is a very important scripture. Verse 23, "...being born again." Being born again, that's what
it's all about, that's what we're talking about, being born again.
Not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed, by the
word of God. which liveth and abideth forever.
Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
The Holy Spirit is the author of life. He's the one that gives
life, and the seed He uses, the means He uses, is the word of
God. Not my reasons and logic and
argument, but the word of God. That's what He uses to give life. Now then, the results of the
new birth. What is the new birth? The Holy
Spirit is the one who gives it. And the word of God, that's the
means he uses by which to give it. Now, what happens when a
person is born again? Here's the results of the new
birth. There is new life, a new life. Not the old life made over,
a brand new life, a divine life. We are begotten again unto a
living hope. In Adam we died, in Christ we
live again. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die." It's a new life. If any man be in
Christ, he's a new person, a new being, a new creature. It's not
the old life of flesh, the old natural carnal life. It's a new
divine life that God puts in. Secondly, it's new faith. Turn
to 1 John 5. Now here's some scripture that
I want you to follow with me. 1 John 5. It's new faith. It says in 1 John 5, verse 1,
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, that he's the
Messiah, that he's the Redeemer, that he's their God of their
God, that he is the one whom God sent to redeem his people. Whosoever believes that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. It's a new faith. It's a new
faith. Christ is not just a great person,
a great man, a great healer, a great prophet. He's the Christ. That's who he is, the Christ. He's our surety. He's our savior. He's our Lord. He's our redeemer
by his life and by his death. and by his resurrection and by
his intercession. Then look at 1 John 4, 7. The
new birth is a new life, it's a divine life, it's the life
of God in the soul. And the believer now has two
natures. He still has that fleshly nature
with its conflicts and with its desires and with its He has a
new nature, the holy nature of God that cannot sin. It's a divine
nature, it's a divine life. He has a new faith. He no longer
believes just in the world and in himself, he believes in Christ.
And then he has a new nature. Look at it, 1 John 4, 7. Beloved,
let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone
that loveth is born of God. This is what scares me. Oh, with
all the religion that we have, so little compassion, so little
genuine spiritual affection. This is the thing that concerns
me. With all of the religion and professed beliefs that we
have, there's so little sincere, godly compassion and unselfishness
and graciousness and generosity. He that loveth He who knows how
to love is born of God. 1 John 5.4, look at this, 1 John
5.4, Whosoever is born of God, born of God, 1 John 5.4 does
what? He overcomes the world. He has a new world. The old world
has lost its interest for him. He has a new nature, he has a
new direction, he has a new family, he has a new world, he lives
in a new world. He overcomes this old world if
he's born of God. There's a vast difference in
saying, I'm born again and experiencing this radical, supernatural, divine
work of which Christ spoke to Nicodemus. this religious, educated,
highly perceptive, moral, orthodox, fundamental Jew. Christ said, Nicodemus, you've
got to be born again. And this is of the Holy Spirit,
it's the Word of God as the seed and it brings forth a new faith
and a new life and a new nature and a new creature and a new
person. I'm not denying the conflicts
with the old person. I'd be a fool to do that. But
I'm saying that if the new nature is not there, and that overcoming
nature and that spiritual nature and that divine nature Man hasn't been born again. Look
at the next word now in our text, John 3. It says here, Christ
said to Nicodemus, You must be born again. Must. Must. Must be born again. If ever you're
going to enter the kingdom of God, you must be born again. If ever you're going to be redeemed
or saved, you must be born again. You may be rich or poor, but
you must be born again. You may be old or young, but
you must be born again. You may be religious or profane,
but you must be born again. You may be intelligent and moral
and talented, but you must be born again. Without the new birth,
you're not children of God. Scripture says in John 1, As
many as received him, to them gave he the right, the privilege,
to become the children of God, which were born, not of blood,
not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but born
of God." They are the children of God, those who are born again. Without the new birth, you have
no spiritual life. Christ said that which is born
of the flesh, that's flesh. that which is born of the Spirit,
that Spirit. And without the new birth, you
cannot enter the kingdom of God. Now, watch our text again. You
must, oh, you must be born again. You, Preacher, you must be born
again. You, Don, you must be born again. You, Paul, you must be born again. You, that's what it says, that
you must be born again. Charlie, you've got to be born
again. Isn't that what Scripture said?
You must be born again. I'm totally inadequate to add
to the words of Christ, I'm not going to try to, but Christ looked
Nicodemus in the face and he said, Nicodemus, you must be
born again. You, David, you've got to be
born again. Except a man be born again, he'll
never enter the kingdom of God. You've got to be born again. This isn't a national question,
a church question, a family question, it's a personal question. Have
you been born again? You must be convicted of your
sins. Don't talk about my sin, that's
none of your business. You've got to be convicted of
your sins. You've got to see your inability.
Don't talk about my shortcomings and my infirmities. That's none
of your business. You've got to be convicted of
your inability. You've got to see Christ as your
Savior, your only hope, your only Redeemer, His blood, your
only hope to cleanse you of your sin. You've got to call for mercy! Boy, I wish old George was here this
morning to hear this sermon. I'd want George A. to be here. But you're here. You're here. And you'd better hear it. You
may not ever hear another one. And the Lord Jesus said, You've
got to be born. I've got to be born again, or
I'll never enter the kingdom of God. Have I ever called for
mercy? Have I ever, on my face, before
God convicted of my sins, said, Lord, be merciful to me, the
sinner, me! Me! I need help, I need grace,
I need mercy. You say, Well, I never have.
Well, you've never been born again. I don't care how moral you are,
or how righteous or religious you are, how faithful or dedicated
or devout you are, or how many times they've sprinkled you and
thrown water in your face and dipped you and immersed you and
confirmed you and catechized you and everything else, you've
never been born again. A born-again man cries for mercy. He pleads for mercy, he seeks
mercy, he receives Christ as his Lord and his Savior. And
a half-hearted little decision for Jesus ain't going to quite
make it. And a half-hearted little hour-walking
profession is not going to make it. You've got to be born again. This grace of God, this experience
of life, this new creation, it's got to happen to me! This life-transforming
experience, it's got to happen to me. This thing of begging folks to
come to church on Sunday and worship God, that's for somebody
else. That's not for me, because born-again people do worship
the Lord. They worship the Lord. They can't
live without him. That new life has got to be fed. That new life has got to be nourished. That new life has got to be what the family has to be. Because
that's the family now. That's the family. These folks
that are kin to me by blood, that's not my family. These folks
that are kin to me because they're my in-laws and And because they're
my cousins and nieces and nephews and brothers and sisters, I'm
done with them. I've got a new family. I've got
a new family. I've been born into the family
of God, and that family is ten thousand times more important
than that other I fit. That's right. Got a new family. You been born again? I'm telling you, Nicodemus had
everything you got. with a little bit more. Nicodemus
could produce anything you've produced in all your life put
together in a little bit more. But he wasn't born again. He
wasn't born again. Have you been born again? Then Christ said, listen to this,
verse 7, I say unto you, verse 7, marvel
not that I said unto thee." Who said it? This is not the voice
of a preacher. I wish you would forget the preachers
here this morning. This is the voice of the Lord.
I said this, Christ said. I said this. I said it. The One who created heaven and
earth, I said it. This is not the voice of a denomination
It's not the voice of a religious crackpot. This is not the voice
of a traveling evangelist. This is the voice of God. I'll
say it to you. This is the one who gave and
sustained your natural life. This is the one who came into
this world with concern and care and compassion for sinners. This
is the one who went to Golgotha's cross and died and shed his blood. This is the one who is at the
right hand of God, interceding for those who are interested.
This is the one who will one day judge all men before whom
you will stand, who said, You must be born again. Now,
all here this morning that are satisfied with a little easy
believers and religious experience, that's all right. It's okay. All who are satisfied with going
through the motions of religion, it's your business. All who are
satisfied with looking at the law every Monday morning and
checking to see if you've kept it through the week, that's your
business. And all who want the candles burning and the organ
playing softly and the stained glass windows and all of the
atmosphere of religion and all the ceremonies, that's your business. But I want life. I want life. I want God. I want Christ. I want that living new nature,
that new life, that divine nature that lets me walk with Him and
talk with Him, that lets me rise above the little so-called misunderstandings
and fallings out and hatred and malice and cares and concerns
of this ungodly, evil, dying I want to rise above it while
I have to walk through it all right. I want that new family,
that new life. I want Christ. And not something
I have to go through the motions, despising it while I do it, and
not a law which I have to keep which I dislike, and a people
I have to fellowship with to get to heaven whom I hold in
contempt. I don't want that stuff. I want
that new life that brings with it love and joy and peace and
humility and meekness and patience and kindness and graciousness
and mercy and all that the Holy Spirit gives, and not something
that I have to force and something I have to drive myself to do
and something I have to sign a card to remind me to do it
on time. I want that which comes spontaneously. As hate once came spontaneously
from my old nature, I want that nature that loves men. As once
my old nature fired up with temper in temperance and vengeance,
I want this new nature to put forth the bed and then the full
flower of forgiveness and mercy spontaneously, not something
I have to say, Well, I'm going to try to love people. You haven't
been born again yet, that's your problem. You've got religion
and plenty of it, but you haven't been born again. because what
is a new birth is love, and what is a new birth is grace,
what is a new birth is mercy. That soul, you know it and I
know it, and it's not something that we constrain to produce
and twist and coerce ourselves to manifest. It's Christ said,
there shall be in you a well of living water springing up,
an artesian well. You don't have to keep putting
the water in, it comes out, because there's new life. This is a new
birth. And if we don't have it, let's
seek it. Let's cry to God for it and then be satisfied that
we'll get it. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness
they'll be filled. Ask and it shall be given seek
and ye shall find naught, and God said I'll open, I'll open. Our Father speak to our hearts. by thy powerful word, by the
life-giving word of the living God. Convict us and break us
and crush us at thy feet in the dust of repentance, and reveal
Christ not just to us, reveal Christ in us. As Paul said, my
brethren, I prevail till Christ be formed in you. In his name we pray, amen.