St. Paul's United Methodist Church
“Regeneration and the New
Birth” or “Nick at Night”
Rev. Richard W. Gray
August 14, 2005
John 3:1-8
Most of us are familiar with the term “born again.” We know it as a religious term, but it has been hijacked and used in secular ways. A business on the brink of bankruptcy turns itself around is said to have been born again. A struggling restaurant changes its menu and is born again. A man changes careers and is born again. A sports team has a good season following a terrible season and is said to have been born again.
This morning we will take a look at how the term is correctly used. A man by the name of Nicodemus came to Jesus. He was a ruler of the Jews and a Pharisee. He was also a member of the Sanhedrin, a seventy-member council of men who ran the religious affairs of the nation and who had religious authority over any Jew anywhere in the world. It was a powerful group of men. There were never more than six thousand Pharisees and each man took a vow before three witnesses that he would devote every moment of his life to obeying the Ten Commandments and pleasing God.
In order to fully obey the Ten Commandments, the Pharisees came up with very specific rules to apply the Ten Commandments to every situation in life. In fact there was a group of Pharisees, known as Scribes, who spent their lives studying the Ten Commandments and applying them to every situation in life so the Pharisees could carry out the Commandments and please God.
The Scribes compiled a very thick book, known as the Mishnah, that still exists today, that tells how to apply the Ten Commandments to life. For example, there are twenty-four chapters on not working on the Sabbath. Then they have another book, known as the Talmud, which is made up of commentaries on the Mishnah. There are one hundred fifty-six pages in the Talmud on keeping the Sabbath. They wanted to please God and be accepted by Him. The Pharisees preached a salvation by works message, that is still adhered to by many people today.
Here is just one example of the extremes to which the Pharisees went to try to please God. Knot tying was considered to be work, so a sailor could not tie a knot on the Sabbath, and a farmer could not tie up an animal on the Sabbath. But if tying a knot would somehow save a life, one could tie a knot. There were loopholes. It was permissible to tie a knot with one hand, and a woman could tie a knot to fasten a sash or scarf as a part of her clothing. One could not tie a rope to a bucket to draw water from a well on the Sabbath, but a person could tie a rope to a woman's sash, and then tie the sash to a bucket to draw water from a well.
One could not travel more than one thousand yards from one's home on the Sabbath. But if they tied a rope before the Sabbath to the end of their street, they could consider the whole street to be their home on the Sabbath and travel a thousand yards beyond the street. If they went around the city before the Sabbath, hiding food everywhere they went, the whole city was considered their home so they could go anywhere in the city they wanted to go on the Sabbath. They could even travel one thousand yards outside the city.
Loopholes! I believe it was said of comedian W. C. Fields, when seen reading the Bible, he replied
replied, “I'm looking for loopholes.”
The Pharisees were the guardians of the Jewish faith. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, who came to Jesus at night, not wanting anyone to know of his visit. He was one of the most prominent men in the nation of Israel at that time.
Nicodemus addressed Jesus as Rabbi. Jesus was not an official rabbi, but His prominence as a religious teacher gave Him respect from even His enemies, so He was called, “Rabbi.”
Notice what Nicodemus said to Jesus, “We know you are a teacher who has come from God.” He said, “we know.” He is referring not only to himself, but also to the Pharisees. Even Jesus' enemies, the Pharisees, recognized something unique about Him, so they said He was from God. They had heard His teaching and had seen the miracles He had performed. No one else could do the miracles Jesus did, not even the Pharisees. They were convinced Jesus was from God. This is fascinating because they later condemned Him to death, knowing He was from God. What they did not realize was that Jesus was not a teacher sent by God; He was God, Himself, come in human flesh.
Nicodemus had a great deal of respect for Jesus. He wanted Jesus to tell him what else he needed to do to earn God's pleasure. He held to the belief so many people hold to today, that we somehow can earn our salvation by being good and doing enough good things.
Jesus knew what was on the mind of Nicodemus and said, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
There is an interesting word here in the Greek translated “again.” The word is anothen and means again and from above. It means a second time and a new beginning.
We read in Genesis 2:7, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” The word in the Hebrew for life is plural. It speaks of physical life and spiritual life. When God created humanity, we were created physically and spiritually. When man sinned, the spiritual life died. The Bible says we are dead in trespasses and sin.
Jesus was telling Nicodemus that he needed a new living spiritual life. Nicodemus does not understand this. He thinks Jesus is referring to being born physically again.
Jesus was speaking of the need for a second birth, a spiritual birth that comes from above. It is something that only God does.
Nicodemus had been doing everything he thought God wanted him to do, but he was still spiritually empty. He knew something was missing.
Jesus in essence said to him, “You cannot enter the kingdom of God doing what you are doing. Something else is needed. You need to be born again spiritually. You need to become a new creation by God. You must be born again.” That is regeneration, the new birth.
A lot of people do not like to be told they need to be born again. They have enough pride that they do not wish to admit that there is something wrong and needed in their life, something they cannot do for themselves.
They get upset with people who preach and teach you must be born again. They call them fanatics, or greatly wrong. They want to believe that all religions are good roads that lead to God, even though Jesus Himself said there is only one way to God, and He is that way (John 14:6).
John Wesley was the founder of Methodism. He used to take a lot of criticism from people. One
One question he was asked was, “Why do you preach so often that you must be born again?” Wesley replied, “Because you must be born again.” You see, Jesus said it and that settles it.
I have found over the thirty-six years that I have been preaching and teaching that the main reason people do not want to hear they must be born again is because they do not want to admit their need.
Nicodemus had everything…power, prestige, wealth, education, but he was still lacking. He needed a new birth, a spiritual birth. He needed Christ. Christ is the only way into heaven.
Listen to 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”
Jesus substituted Himself in our place on the cross, taking our sins upon Himself. This was done once for all time. It can never be repeated. It does not need to be repeated. Christ died to take away the penalty of our sin.
Christ rose again from death. His resurrection means God the Father is satisfied with Christ dying in our place as our substitute. There is nothing more for us to do but accept Christ for what He has done for us.
I like the way John Piper put it. “When Christ died and rose again, all the evil angels, and authorities and powers were subjected to Him in a new way. From the beginning of creation He was sovereign over them. That's not new. But now He has nullified the one thing that they could use to destroy us, our sin. It is as if the demonic world had many weapons to harm us, but only one great tank of poison that could destroy the children of God. And when Christ went to the cross, He drank the entire tank.”
When we are born again, we are totally forgiven and given a new life, with a new direction and a new way to live. We ought to expect changes. Most changes will not come right
right away, but they will over time as we grow in our faith and in our relationship with our Lord. Oh what love God has for us!
A Christian in England was asked to sign a church guest book. He noticed that a number of guests had signed their names and then entered their degrees after their name. Since he had never been to a university or college, he had no degrees to list after his name. So he wrote his name, and then wrote BA and MA. When asked what the letters stood for, he said, “Born again and marvelously altered.”
The word of Jesus is, “You must be born again.” New life from God is available to anyone if he or she will acknowledge their need of Jesus and receive Him as their Savior and Lord. This is how we are forgiven and how we obtain heaven. Nicodemus needed to know this. Everyone needs to know this.
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Manchester, NH 03104
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