“You Must Be Born Again” | John 3:1-21

You're listening to the Bible, guys, a podcast where a

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But well, hey, we're back either way to the Bible, guys.

We are in the middle of a series that is

really designed around the idea that what if Jesus had

his own podcast.

He had a lot of things to say, He.

Had famous quotes of Jesus. But before we get into that,

we have what I think is a isn't this a

brand news?

It is? It is it is. It's a hot take

showdown hot take show. So we're gonna take controversial statement.

This is gonna be a new segment. Okay, yeah, yeah,

Desire and A we're talking about this and I think

this is gonna be a new one. We're going to

take a bold, confrontational statement statement, and we have to

take a side.

Either defended or debunk it.

That's right. Are you ready?

And we take number one. We can't go middle ground.

We have to go one of the other.

It's all in on one side or the other. Okay,

are you ready?

Yes?

Hot take number one. Breakfast is the most overrated meal

of the day.

Go disagree. It is not overrated at all. Breakfast is everything.

Everybody says that it is everything.

Everybody. What does everybody say it is?

Well, there's experts that say that it is the most

important meal of the day. Really, they will they will

say it over and over again. There's not a person

who does well nutritionists that doesn't say that, right, And so.

What about all these people that talk about fasting.

That's a different topic.

A lot of people say the healthiest way to go

is the you know, the what is it when you

do then and fast? They say skip breakfast.

Yes, but I'm saying of all the medals.

Literally breaking the fast, and they're saying it's healthy for you.

He's a terrible argument. No, it's terrible argument.

It's true. A lot of people say, don't eat.

Do you understand what I'm saying.

You just made a c I'm saying, you made a

comment that said breakfa the run, and I'm saying.

And dinner, of those breakfast is the most important meal

of the day. Here's what you're saying. You're saying, what

about eating nothing?

That's not what I said. No, No, that's not what

what I'm saying. Is you you made the claim that

all experts agree. No, I said most, you said all.

But that's okay. And I'm saying a lot of experts

say don't eat breakfast, skip it. Yeah, being lunch no no, no,

that this should be your lifestyle. No, no, no, no, that's.

What fasting doesn't just skip a meal. It skips like

it skips like a whole day.

No it doesn't. Yes, no, no, no, no no no. Yeah. Yeah,

yeah that They say that that's the healthiest of all

the intermittent fastings, and it's a it can become a lifestyle,

should be a lifestyle. So you should be eating three

meals a day.

Okay, here here's another thing. Here's a no thing.

You eat three meals a day. Americans like me.

Yeah, that's right. Okay, how about this angle?

Then?

I think that breakfast food is probably is good. Is good,

The food is good. I've always wondered about that. God,

thank you for this food? Right, God is great. God

is good, Thank you for this food. It's as if

there's rhyme, but they don't.

Know anyway, It just looks right on the paper.

The point is is that how about this one from

the angle of why is it that breakfast foods are

like most people like breakfast food around the world, of.

Every culture comfort their comfort foods.

Yeah, think about it. There's really no other category of

food that the majority of all humans like except for

breakfast food. Nothing beats breakfast food, right. You know, Indians

love Indian food, but there's a lot of Americans that

don't like Indian food, right, A lot of people in

Africa that wouldn't like Sloppy Joe's.

So, but it is interesting. You know, you go to

restaurants for breakfast overseas and they don't do breakfast like

we eat breakfast. They literally call it the American breakfast

or a European breakfast, eggs, bacon, sausage, but.

They like it.

Yeah. I was just in an Indian I was just

in India and I had the special order eggs. There

were no eggs, you know what they had. They had

beans and tomatoes and all these like like it was

like dinner, chicken meals, chicken dishes, beef Dishessould there be

another reason for it's it's how breakfast goes over there?

Do you think that maybe chickens are rare, eggs are rare.

They're everywhere. But anyways, yeah, yeah, so it's different. All right,

here's here's hot take number two. You and I are

in disagreement on the hot take number two. Cats make

better pets and dogs. Oh absolutely, I agree with that one.

That's that's not even controversial.

Yeah, that's not controversial at all.

Why now, why why do cats make better pets and dogs.

Well, listen, First of all, let me distinguish the fact

that I'm not saying that people like cats.

More than dogs better pets.

They're just better pets than dogs. Right, So you may

enjoy dogs more. Dogs are hard to work, and it

may be a better payoff.

Yeah, my wife is going to be mad about my

take on this. One loves dogs.

But that's but that doesn't change the fact that dogs

are more work work.

Dogs need you. Cats don't need you. That's why they're

great pets.

Right right, So so better pets. Meaning like on dogs,

you have to bathe them. Dogs, you have to walk them. Dogs,

you have to clean up their poop with your hands

and bags. Dogs are You can't leave a dog for days.

You cannot ignore a dog.

They need you.

They go to Dogs don't ignore you. They dominate your space. Yeah,

as far as a pet goes a pet owner. Cats

bathe themselves. Cats take care of it in litter boxes.

You don't smell anything. You don't need to walk a cat.

Cats don't need you. You could leave cats for days.

I mean, come on, it's not even a controversial statement.

I'm going to agree with you. Now we don't have

cats at our house because my wife is allergic. But

oh yeah, so is my grandson. So anyways, all right, well, hey,

two hot takes, we solve both of those ones. You

and I are in a disagreement. We're in alignment on cats,

and we're disagreement about breakfast. So although although I took

the breakfast side only adversarially because I love breakfast.

Yes, and I know you did because it was a

stretch what you were talking about fasting, that's not true.

I argued to your point that all experts agree with you,

and they don't.

Okay, then most do. Yeah, some breakfast is not overrated.

Here we go. Are you ready?

I am ready? John, chapter talking.

About not being overrated? John? Chapter three is a very

popular and you know what chapter, and it.

Is everything that Jesus meant for it to be.

That's right. So today we are in You know.

By the way, you've done every single bad transition this week.

I keep on forgetting, which is why last week when

I was with Kyle and Wesley, or.

The two previous weeks, you're just not committed to me,

I forget.

I forgot most of it.

You're not committed.

I bet you only did it one third of the time.

You're just mailing it in, be honest. So so so

today with the premise that, you know what, if Jesus

had had a podcast today's episode, Jesus would say you

must be born again. That'd be the whole theme behind

the episode. So is that a statement for late you

must be born again?

You must be born again? Ye?

So in John chapter three, we're just going to read

I think the whole chapter here, but it says this.

There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader

who was a pharisee. After dark one evening, he came

to speak with Jesus Rabbi. He said, we all know

that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous

signs their evidence that God is with you. Jesus replyed

to tell you the truth. Unless you are born again,

you cannot see the Kingdom of God. What do you mean,

exclaimed Nicodemus. How can an old man go back into

his mother's woman and be born again? Jesus replied, I

assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God

without being born of water and the spirit. Humans can

reproduce only human life, but the Holy spirit gives birth

to spiritual life, so don't be surprised when I say

you must be born again. The wind blows wherever it wants,

and just as you can hear the wind, but can't

tell where it comes from or where it's going, So

you can't explain how people are born and of the spirit.

How are these things possible? The Kademus asked. Jesus replied,

you were respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don't understand

these things. I assure you. We tell you what we

know and have seen, and yet you won't believe our testimony.

But if you don't believe me when I tell you

about eternal things, how can you possibly birth earthly things?

I'm sorry? What did I say?

You said eternal things?

Oh? Yeah, I just didn't want that. This thing it

says earthly things, Yes it does. Yes, I tell you

about earthly things. How can you possibly believe if I

tell you about heavenly things? No one has ever gone

to heaven and returned, But the Son of Man has

come down from heaven. And as Moses lifted up the

bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the

son of Man must be lifted up so that everyone

who believes in him will have eternal life. For this

is how God loved the world. He gave his one

and only sons so that everyone who believes in him

will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his

son in the world not to judge the world, but

to save the world through him. There is no judgment

against anyone who believes in him, but anyone who does

not believe in him has already been judged for not

believing in God's one and only son, and the judgment

is based on this fact. God's light came into the world,

but people love the darkness more than the light, for

their actions were evil. All who did evil hate the

light and refuse to go near it for fear their

sins will be exposed. But those who do what is

right come to the light so others can see that

they are doing what God wants. Is that it there?

It is? Okay, So I'm not reading the whole chapter,

but I did get one to twenty one. Yeah, one

through twenty one. The whole story of Nicodemus.

Yeah, the whole story Nicodemus. So, first of all, Nicodemus

is one. It's always whenever I think of Nicodemus. I

always think of like the one who got away. Oh

you know what I mean, the great thing that almost was.

Don't you think of it that way. It's like it's

like he was almost there. Here's this great prominent religious

faires pharisaical pharisee. Yeah, I was gonna say pharisecal leader.

How do I how do I use that note adjutive

pharisee leader.

Pharisee leader. Really I thought there.

Was that that would be the title. Well, I know,

I know, but it's like a football player. He's a

pharisee leader, really, a leader of the Pharisees.

I've heard it said other ways. Maybe I've heard it wrong.

Well, there's fair phariseaical behavior.

Oh, phariseical. That's the word I was looking for. Yes, correct, so,

but but yeah, you're right, his title is pharisee. So uh. Anyway,

the point is is that here he is, this pharisee

and it wasn't he a member of the Sanhedron as well?

Yeah?

Yeah, so here he is, I mean, just the most

prominent of influence in the in the religious world, and

he's meeting with Jesus at Knight and Uh. And he's

meeting them at night because he is a secret believer.

Admirer.

Admirer, I guess is probably the better word. He's very curious.

He's not wanting to put g Jesus to death. He's

actually very curious to see if Jesus is coming from God.

And and so here he is just right on the edge.

You know, I could just I picture I picture it

going the other way. I picture it like he was

like one step away of saying like, Okay, I'm done

with being a pharisee. I'm all in. I'm going to

follow you Jesus, and I'm going to become a believer

in an influencer like the apostle Paul, right from one

extreme to the other. And and yet he doesn't he

doesn't really ever cross the line. And uh and uh.

Anyway, as far as yeah, Christ follower.

Yeah, but not a devoted follower enough to stop.

I mean, he doesn't leave being a pharisee.

Right, Yeah, well Jesus had to die. But but but

that would mean that he was on the council when

Caiaphas had had him voted to be put to death.

Yeah, but he voted against it. Yeah, he voted against it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Well you know what I'm saying, right, Sure,

what I'm saying is like, he didn't become.

A pall right, he didn't leave, Yes, he didn't leave

the Yeah, yeah, so is interesting. He comes to Jesus

at night. The daytime interactions between Jesus and the Pharisees

were always very antagonistic, Right, either Jesus is going after

the Pharisees or the Pharisees are going after Jesus. Almost

every day, it looks like, right, but then you've got Nicodemus.

He comes at night. One, I think he doesn't want

to be seen by the other Pharisees. Two, the day's

work is done. This is much more casual. It's not

the marching around the city preaching and healing, and it's

not the you know, all the rituals and rules and

regulations for the Pharisees. This is kind of a more casual,

calm space. And it's one on one. It's not groups.

So it's not it's not Jesus group against the Pharisees group.

It's just he's one on one guys. So there's a

lot of respect. I think in this there's also little

bit of caution in that, but he's definitely impressed with Jesus.

He calls him a rabbi, which gives him some respect,

which is very impressive because being a member of saying

he'd meant that he was a member of the Supreme Court.

So for him to ascribe any kind of title to

Jesus means I'm acknowledging you as nearly an equal here, right,

And that speaks volumes, And he certainly says, your miracles

have proven to me that you are who you're claiming

to be, right, And then he says, so, I just

think you're a good guy. And Jesus doesn't small talk

at all on this one. He just goes straight as

a yeah, let me tell you you need to be

born again. But and this is the first time anybody's

ever heard this phrase before, right, be born again? And

so he's a smart guy, and he goes, what are

you talking about? How do you go back and be

born a second time? And Jesus said, really, you're a

leader among the people, and you can't get the idea

between a physical birth and a spiritual birth?

Yeah right, Yeah, And it's interesting how he describes, you know,

physical birth being born of water, and then spiritual birth,

being born of the spirit. And he says, hey, you'll

never be able to explain it, just like you can

feel the wind, but you can't explain it. And so

he says, you'll never be able to fully understand it.

And yet this is what is required. And so Jesus's

statement that you cannot enter the Kingdom of God unless

you are born again indicates that every human being has

a spiritual birth or excuse me, a physical birth, but

you need a spiritual rebirth or to be born born

in a spirit. Actually, really it's just born into the

spirit in order to enter the Kingdom of heaven. So

you need to you know, and we use different terms

as well, not just being born again, but Roman says

to be said, which means to be rescued from your sins,

and so to be saved or to be born again.

Another word would say to trust Christ fully, to be

become a fully devoted follower of Christ. But basically it

all comes down to putting your faith in and your

trust in and belief in the sacrifice of Jesus, because

he lays it out John three sixteen.

Is right here well, Verse fifteen, even before that fourteen

and fifteen. Yes, he says, even as Moses lifted up

the bronze snake or the serpent in the wilderness.

Which, by the way, we're going to teach at heritage

in a few weeks.

Oh yeah, yeah, so I was. I've got a photo

of that, by the way, Oh, I'd love it. Yeah,

So you told me that in Jordan is where Mount

Nebo is. Mount Nebo is where Moses died, and there's

there's ben for a thousand years, more than a thousand years,

fifteen hundred and seventeen hundred years, there's been various little

churches and chapels right in that on that cliff that

overlooks the Jordan Valley. God brought Moses to the edge

of this mountain, and you can see everything. You see Jericho,

you can see the Dead Sea, you can see the

the River Jordan, you can see the plains that Joshua

led the people across. You see it all. You can

look all the way across and at nighttime you can

see Jerusalem. Right. So it's just it's everything, and that's

where Moses died. So an artist created this cross of

a serpent in the form of a cross. There and

it sits right on the edge of this cliff, looking

over that valley there, and it has the whole story

of as Moses left of the serpent. So here's the

story painting. No, no, no, no, no, no, it's a giant art.

Oh there's a physical cross.

It's like a sculpture. Oh phenomenal. Yeah, it's fabulous, ten

ft fifteen feet tall.

Okay, so not but you can see it from a

great distance.

Yeah, and it's overlooking the big valley. I'll show it

to you.

Yeah, yeah, that's cool.

But so the story that Jesus is referencing here, the

Israelites had rebelled against God. God is done with them.

He's just sick to death of these rebellious Israelites, and

so he allows these snakes to come into the camp.

And Moses goes to God, say, God, don't just wipe

out all the people. And God said, okay, make this

bronze serpent. Put it on this pole and lift it up.

It's where we get the medical Have you ever seen

the medical symbol? And it has the snakes on the symbol.

That's where it comes from. It's from that passage, right,

So that's what Moses does he lifts up this snake

that's wrapped around this pole, and if the people would

look to that in faith, God would heal them. And

Jesus is saying, when I'm put on the pole, if

people will look to me in faith, it'll have the

same effect on a spiritual level that that faith had

on a physical level, healing him from the snake bite. Well,

we're all snake bit by sin, right right, right, Literally,

this Satan was a serpent, is, you know, in the

form of a serpent when he tempted Eve. We've all

been snake bit ever since. And Jesus is saying, when

I'm lifted up on the pole, when I'm put on

the cross, if you look to me by faith, you'll

be brought back to life spiritually in the same way

that by faith when they looked at the snake, they

were brought back to life physically from the snake bite.

Which goes along with him saying born again, born physically,

born spiritually, right right, right, yeah, which is great.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's actually incredibly rich, isn't it.

Yeah, it's incredible.

Yeah, it's really rich.

So then that leads into verse sixteen, which is where

you were going in early.

Yeah, which you know, it's for God so of the

world that he gave his one and only son so

that everyone who believes in him will not perish but

have eternal life. And then something that we don't read

as often, we should read it often because the next

verse is God sent his son into the world not

to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

Yeah.

Right, And so it's it's a it's a great invitation

to be born again right now.

Uh.

I have to throw this in here just for fun,

just because I'm me. But there are terms that over

the years I always make make fun of a little

bit because I say that they carry with it a

little bit of baggage like uh and and and by

the way, the Bible didn't give baggage to those terms.

People did, right. So there's like, you know, when you

hear somebody say born again, oftentimes that that particular term

was dominantly used by a particular denomination and and could

be a little by people who are just a little

bit pushy and a little bit quite frankly, in my opinion,

a little creepy and uh and so so a lot

of times when you hear that term, you're like oh,

you're one of those people, right, and uh and so

so I always say this and and again people can disagree,

and I'm completely fine with that. But when I'm on stage,

on on a you know, behind the pulpit, a lot

of times I try to avoid words that I call

Christian eese because they carry with it just a little

bit of baggage. And so when people hear those terms,

you might say, well, it's from the Bible. Yeah, you're right,

the Bible didn't give it baggage. People did. And so,

like secretary is a perfectly good word, but we had

to change it to administrative assistant because people gave it baggage. Right,

It's sort of the same thing. And so anyway, the

point is is that that's why I always like to say, hey, listen,

if our goal is to reach those who are far

from God, who don't go to church, don't know church culture,

they have no knowledge of much of anything, I'm going

to try my best to speak in layman's terms, non

churchy terms, to make sure that they understand. So I

prefer to say, you know, you must become a follower

of Christ, or believe in Christ, or trust Christ with

your whole heart. Because people can get behind that.

Yeah, those phrases don't have the same impact of being

a brand new life. You're right, those phrases don't.

You're right.

The other part of it too, I think that it's

that's a leftover feeling from the eighties and nineties. And

I think if you went and talked to a twenty

five year old today and asked them what does it

mean to be born again? They would go, I don't know,

when have you heard the phrase? Most of them will go,

I don't know. I think I think it's a fifty

year old guy generation. It's a fifty year old guy opinion,

not a thirty year old guy opinion.

But there's fifty year olds that listen to the gospel.

Sure, Sure. All I'm saying is it's not all of culture.

And I think it's more relevant today to say be

born again than it was in.

The more relevant yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah.

So it ebbs and flows with the with the cultural baggage,

but the baggage doesn't last forever. And I think it's yeah,

I agree, I agree with that.

I agree with that.

Yeah.

But if I'm given the Gospel and there's only twenty

percent that might carry that baggage. I would still prefer

to describe another way, so that one hundred percent would

be okay with the terms I'm using.

Yeah, well, if you're if you're teaching it like we

just taught.

It, then you can and you can still say.

Explain what the what being born again means. It's different

than just the very phrase if you need to be

born again.

We just made We just did a series called made

New now made news a great phrase. Right to be,

to be to have a brand new life. Like those terms,

you can give the same connotation. You just have to

use more words, right, Yeah, yeah, I agree. And so

so you must be born again? That that's the phrase

for today. If Jesus we're doing his own podcast, he

certainly wouldn't back away from that phrase. No, no, no,

he would say you must be born.

And I'm just a lot like Jesus.

That's you.

You don't want to be like I want to be

like Jesus. You're more like Nicodemus. You're gonna come at

night and talk about it.

That's right, that's right, that's me. Wow, I can't believe

it ended up there. I'm not you know what I

am more I am a lot like Nicodemus, but I'm

a lot like Jesus.

Too, I haven't, Jeff, I'm joking with you. So hey,

there is a note. You know how we always like

to celebrate the life application study about it.

We do.

So there's a whole segment in here on Nicodemus and

on his life, and it's really interesting how there's this progression.

He's afraid of being discovered at the beginning, so he

makes an appointment, comes and meets with Jesus at nighttime, right,

and then he comes away with a different understanding of

God and himself. He's acknowledging that Jesus does miracles. He

comes away going, wow, what is this? Be born again?

He's very intrigued. He doesn't dismiss Jesus. He wants to learn,

and Jesus really unpacks this idea. Well, then you wonder

didn't have any impact until you find out later on

when he's the one who He appears at the High

Council in John chapter seven, where Jesus is being prosecuted

and he speaks up. It's the first time we see

him speak up, and he speaks up publicly in front

of his peers, spending Jesus.

If it's from God, it'll succeed. If it's from man,

it'll fail.

Or is that Gamaliel, that's Gamaliel. Yeah, you're right. But

he raises this question of justice rights, so he challenges

the idea of justice and so it was overruled, but

he spoke up. That's a big step from sneaking out

at night to now publicly speaking in front of his peers.

And then when Jesus is crucified, he and Joseph a

Verimythea actually approach the governor pilot and ask for Jesus'

body and they bury Jesus' body, and then church history

tradition shows that he went on and became a leader

in the church. And so there's this progression from coming

at nighttime and checking things out to really hearing the gospel.

It seems to have transformed him. He has more and

more courage, and he keeps growing and growing and growing.

And so don't be frustrated with your path. Keep making

sure that there's forward movement. Just like Nicodemus and God,

it'll use you.

Yeah, that's great. That's a great place to end. So hey,

hope you enjoyed that, and we will wrap up this

week tomorrow on Friday, and we'll see you that on

the Bible, guys,