The New Life Jesus Gives Us Through the Spirit (John 3:1-16)- Dr. Richard Winston

We're gonna look at John chapter 3 if you like

John 3 · chapter mention

to turn there in your scriptures John chapter

John 3 · chapter mention

3 and Dalton one thing I forgot to ask after

the benediction do I slip to the back to greet

people or Perfect I'll plan on that All right,

very good. I'll go to the back so I can shake

your hand while you leave and greet you All right,

John chapter 3. Let me read verses 1 through

John 3 · chapter mention

17 from Now there was a Pharisee, a man named

Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling

council. He came to Jesus at night and said,

Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has

come from God, for no one could perform the signs

you are doing if God were not with him. Jesus

replied, very truly I tell you, no one can see

the kingdom of God unless they are born again.

How can someone be born when they are old? Nicodemus

asked. Surely they cannot enter a second time

into their mother's womb to be born. Jesus answered,

very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom

of God unless they are born of water and the

spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit

gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised

at my saying you must be born again. The wind

blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound,

but you cannot tell where it comes from or where

it is going. So it is with everyone born of the

Spirit. How can this be? Nicodemus asked. You

are Israel's teacher, said Jesus. And do you

not understand these things? Very truly, I tell

you, we speak of what we know and we testify

to what we have seen, but still you do not accept

our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly

things and you do not believe. How then will

you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No

one has ever gone into heaven except the one

who came from heaven, the son of man. Just as

Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness,

so the son of man must be lifted up so that everyone

who believes may have eternal life in him. For

God so loved the world that he gave his one and

only son. that whoever believes in him shall

not perish, but have eternal life. For God did

not send his son into the world to condemn the

world, but to save the world through him. And

amen for the reading of God's word. Well, as

we come to John chapter three this morning, I

want you to ask yourself this question. How often

do you look around and wish your world was different?

It could be your community. It could be your

home. It could be your church or the church as

a whole. It could be the direction of your life,

the nation in which you live or other places

around the world. How often do you see things

and things are not the way you would like them

to be or things seem that they are not the way

they ought to be and something in your heart

longs for something to change and for God to

be the one. to bring about that change. If you

ever feel those things, take heart. You are in

very good company. You are feeling things that

most Jews in Jesus' day felt. You see, they were

a nation with a great heritage where God had

done wonderful things to them, to bring them

out of Egypt, to enter into a covenant with them,

to bring them into their land and give them good

laws that would make them a shining light and

a holy people. And yet, because of their unfaithfulness,

they had gone into exile in Babylon. And people

had died. And homes had been lost. And crops

had been spoiled. And they had toiled in a foreign

land where they couldn't gather like they used

to do. And they couldn't worship like they once

did. But God, in grace, brought them home. They

returned home. They even rebuilt a temple. But

if you've ever read some of those Old Testament

stories, you know that when they saw the way

things were this time around, something didn't

seem quite right. It wasn't as good as it had

once been. And Israel continued to operate under

that sense of, it's like God did something, but

he didn't do it all the way the prophets promised

or we expected. It's as if you turned on your

water spigot and it's just trickling out. Yeah,

you've got water. But you're never going to be

able to water the garden or fill a bucket with

that. Something's just not quite right. And they

longed for God to come and to show up and to

do something, namely to bring in his kingdom,

to keep all the promises he made through the

prophets and to regather his people and to change

their hearts and to give them a new covenant

and all those kinds of throw out the Romans and

do all the things that the prophets promised.

And it's that longing that drives Nicodemus to

Jesus in this passage. You could see that even

in the opening language there where he's coming

to Jesus and saying nice things about him. He's

not just trying to butter him up. He's seeing

something in Jesus. Maybe through this one, God's

kingdom will come. But as we'll see throughout

the passage, he was kind of right and he was

kind of wrong. He needed to have some things

retooled and recalibrate. And so I want us to

go through that kind of process today as we work

our way through this passage. To try to put ourselves

in Nicodemus's shoes and hear what Jesus is saying

afresh and understand what it is he's calling

us to and make the kind of response that the

text puts in front of us. And we'll do that by

focusing especially on what Jesus says about

this new birth, about being born again and considering

then the kind of new life that Jesus will give

us through his spirit. So let's work through

the passage really just in two halves. First,

verses one through eight. We focus here on our

need for new life. from the Spirit. If we are

going to experience God's reign, God's world,

God's life, then we need new life from the Spirit.

Let's look at Nicodemus and how these opening

verses describe him. He is called a Pharisee,

a member of the Jewish ruling high council who

comes to Jesus As I've said a moment ago, if

Nicodemus feels and believes what most Jews in

his day did, then he is coming to Jesus because

he recognizes some potential in Jesus. That's

why he says to him, we know that you're a teacher

who's come from God because no one could perform

the signs you're doing if God were not with him.

You're teaching. You're working miracles. You're

demonstrating authority. Surely God is with you,

or this wouldn't work out. Now, what kind of

expectations might Nicodemus have? Well, as I

said, he's a Pharisee, and I know we're used

to reading the scriptures and somewhat seeing

the Pharisees as the bad guys, and we should.

They're presented negatively for a reason. Jesus

has some pretty strong words for them. But understand

also, in Jesus' day, the Pharisees were somewhat

generally well -liked. They were viewed by the

people of admiration. And they themselves, you

could probably argue, maybe thought they were

going about things the right way and trying to

do something good. You see, the Pharisees developed

during that time, as I've said, when Israel was

in exile or coming home and trying to get their

nation back on the right foot. So they were zealous.

They wanted to keep the law. They wanted to keep

the law rightly. I mean, we disagree at times,

right, over what the Bible's asking you to do.

So did people on that day. And the Pharisees

tried to study it out and figure it out and say,

OK, here's the right way to keep God's law. And

not only were they zealous to do it the right

way, they were zealous for the most people to

do it the right way. The Pharisees took the rules

given to priests and said, you know what? Israel

is a priestly nation. We're all priests, everybody.

should keep the purity rules given to the priests.

The Pharisees also recognized, you know what,

when Moses handed down the Ten Commandments or

received them from God and gave all these laws,

our land and our culture looked a little different.

It was more agrarian then. Now we have more cities.

All right, let's figure out how to update what

God requires and make sure we're practicing it

in every context of life. So here's a guy that

wants to get it right. And so he says, all right,

maybe Jesus is going to be the one who takes

our vision and gets this thing across the finish

line. Maybe he'll fulfill what we're all longing

for in the way that we Pharisees are trying to

go about it. And Jesus responds to him in a way

that somewhat catches him up shore. It's a somewhat

abrupt response. meant to get his attention and

refocus his thoughts. So let's look at what Jesus

says. He says in verse three, truly I tell you,

no one can see the kingdom of God unless they

are born again. Because the narrative, it reads

so abruptly, you know, Nicodemus is saying nice

things and Jesus, it's almost like as he cuts

them off, hey, look, unless you're born again.

You can't see the kingdom of God. That indicates,

Jesus says, we need to take this conversation

a different way. I know you want me to do what

you're intent on, but actually we need to retool

your expectations. Unless someone is born again,

they cannot see the kingdom of. Notice Jesus

there talking about the kingdom of God. This

is God's reign. This is when God finally shows

up. God's always God, right? Whether we can see

it or not. But there is a day when God shows

up and everybody knows it. There's no arguing

with his power and his authority and his reign.

This is what Nicodemus wants and this is what

Jesus is talking about. You want to see the reign

of God? You want to see God take his place as

king? Well, there's no way to do that without

being born again. Or as Jesus says in verse five,

without being born of the water and the spirit.

Now, if you've read John's gospel much, you've

probably noticed before John likes to do some

double meaning where he says two things with

one word and really means them both. So when

we read in English, you need to be born again.

That's one way to translate the words. You need

to be born a second time. And that's exactly

what Nicodemus hears. But you can also translate

the word again with from above. So Nicodemus,

you need to be born a second time. And this second

birth, it needs to be one from above. You need

God to give you new life. Jesus expands on this

in verse 5 you need to be born of water and the

spirit and Jesus is probably there reaching for

an Old Testament passage Ezekiel 36 where Ezekiel

looks at Israel and he says well they're a valley

of dry bones you probably read that passage before

there there's this death everywhere spiritual

death what's gonna bring these bones to life

God says in the previous chapter, when I wash

you with clean water and when I put my spirit

within you. Nicodemus, if you want God's rain

to come, there's no way you're going to participate

in it. You're not going to see it and you're

not going to enter it without God doing something

to you on the inside. you need the Spirit of

God to give you a new heart and to wash you from

your sins and make you clean and I think what

then Jesus is getting at here is he saying Nicodemus

if I'm giving you a new way to enter the kingdom

Then that implies you really just need to rethink

everything you think you know about the kingdom

And I get this from Nicodemus' response. Jesus

says, you need to be born again. And Nicodemus

says, how can someone be born when they are old?

Nicodemus asks. You can't go back into your mother's

womb a second time and be born. By the way, I

heard a dad having this very conversation with

his kid one time when I was at a restaurant.

Went to the bathroom and washed my hands. I could

hear a dad who would take his kid to the bathroom

having this conversation. where he's talking

about being born again, and the kid said, wait,

you mean like I have to be born a second time

from mom? It was so close to this text, I thought,

are they faking it, like hoping I'll hear this

and then they'll witness to me? So you can understand

how somebody might hear these words and misunderstand

it. That's why Jesus goes on in verse six to

say, flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit

gives birth to spirit. Nicodemus, there's something

about your vision that's fleshly. There's something

about your vision for the kingdom that's informed

by the principles of this world That's informed

by what's going on in your heart and Nicodemus

the rain I'm coming to offer is So different

it's so different that your strategy for bringing

about is not gonna work That way will not lead

to what God wants And again, you think about

what I said about Nicodemus' strategy. If we're

really zealous to keep the law, we'll get it

right. And in fact, let's not just stop with

the commandments. Let's make sure they get kept

the right way. Let's codify some tradition around

these commandments to make sure they get kept.

Let's have everybody from top to bottom keep

these commandments. And Jesus says there's something

about that that's fleshly. Maybe it just puts

too much stock in a human's ability to do the

right thing. Maybe it doesn't put enough stock

in how dark every human heart can be, that it

won't do those things and can't do those things.

And listen, Nicodemus's vision wasn't the only

one. You've got the vision of the Sadducees as

well, who maybe are reticent to embrace what

the prophets have to say, or other parts of what

we call the Old Testament, in enlarging their

vision of what God is doing. You've got the Sanhedrin,

which by the way is mentioned here, that Nicodemus

is also a member of the Sanhedrin. This is your

Jewish supreme core. A lot of people on this

are from the more aristocratic classes of Israelites.

They had rich people in Israel and a lot of them

are on the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin's kind of

modus operandi is let's just not get in trouble

with Rome. We don't want to have their heat on

us. We don't want to get in trouble with them.

So let's just kind of negotiate some kind of

relationship where they don't mess with us. and

we won't mess with them. We've carved out a little

space for ourselves where we've got some power

and authority, and we're just gonna keep things

that way. And so maybe they're a little too friendly

with Rome. Maybe they don't care enough about

what God says through the prophets it means to

belong to the people of God. Wrong understandings

of purity, too focused on earthly power, complicit

with evil. It could be any of those things. And

you can... Take a minute at some point just to

look into your own heart, later today reflecting

or during the week. Okay, what is it in me that

sometimes confuses what I want with what God

wants? Or what is it within me that sometimes

wants to reinterpret what God says in light of

what I want? That can just come from any kind

of motive, any kind of place, and it's good that

we reflect at times on what might be competing

in our heart. for how we understand what God

wants. And this is where Jesus challenges Nicodemus.

Nicodemus, your way of going about things is

off track, but good news, God offers you this

opportunity to be transformed from the inside

out by the cleansing of God's blood that will

be shed on the cross, by the gift of the Holy

Spirit and become a new creation that will participate

in what God is doing in the world. That is the

invitation Jesus gives Nicodemus. And it kind

of drives it home with these words in verses

seven and eight. Don't be surprised at me saying

you must be born again. The wind blows wherever

it pleases. You hear its sound, but you can't

tell where it comes from or where it's going.

So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

You see the wind in the mind of Jesus's original

audience. It has its origin in God. They didn't

know where the wind came from back in Jesus'

day. Now, by the way, don't take that the wrong

way as if, oh yeah, people who lived a thousand

years ago, 2000, they were so ignorant, they

don't know what we know. I was just talking to

somebody on my way in today where we got more

rain I think than was expected or you get snow

and ice predictions and they don't quite materialize.

Like we still really don't know, do we exactly

have this whole thing works nowadays with our

fancy tools? Well, just imagine an ancient mindset

that says, you know what? exactly how the wind

works, I don't know. I know where it comes from.

It comes from God. That's what Jesus wants Nicodemus

to realize. Wind blows, you don't know where

it comes from other than God does it and you

can see its effects. So Nicodemus, don't worry

about how this whole new birth thing works. Here's

how it works. It comes from God. God, by his

grace, by his spirit, by his cleansing blood

will make you into a new creation. And you will

then participate rightly in what God wants to

do in the world. That's the invitation for Nicodemus.

That's the invitation for all of us to become

these new creations by God's grace. And we'll

talk about how you become one in just a minute.

But that's the challenge front and center. What

kind of world do we want to live in? What kind

of church do we want to participate in? Does

it align with what God says or have we maybe

made it align more with what we want from fleshly

places? Jesus invites us to take a fresh look

at the Word and bring ourselves into alignment

with God's vision. That may mean just sitting

down afresh with, say, the Gospel of Matthew,

and reading the Sermon on the Mount, and asking

yourself, when I read this passage, what resistance

do I feel popping up in my heart that says, I

don't know if I want to do that, or I don't know

if that can be done, or where do you start negotiating

all these excuses for why something can't be

done? We all do this. My wife asked me today,

she goes, you might want to look in the attic

when you get home to make sure there's no problems

with the roof. and there's no water getting it.

Trust me, I had like three reasons at my disposal

why I did not need to do that anytime soon. We

do this when we're faced with things we don't

want. We invent ways to get out of it. But we

do that really to our harm because what Jesus

is inviting us to is a wonderful experience.

In fact, I'll say this and we'll go on to the

next point. This word, this discussion about

being born again, That word also pops up in Matthew

where Jesus uses it to refer to the rebirth of

the whole world. So you've ever heard people

talk about spiritual rebirth or regeneration?

Jesus says in Matthew, you know the day's coming

and the renewal of all things when you will sit

on 12 thrones and judge the 12 tribes of Israel.

Jesus is saying one day we're gonna make the

whole world new and that's gonna be a good thing.

It's gonna work the way it was supposed to. the

way Adam and Eve should have participated in

it. We've got badly off track, but Jesus says

one day the whole thing's gonna be new. So take

a fresh look at the scriptures and ask yourself,

what does God's kingdom look like? What does

Jesus bring when he encounters people? Are those

the things I want? Are those the things I'm working

for? And bring it into alignment with God's vision.

And of course, Let me be sure to say this anytime

looking at this passage where we think about

being born again and people getting saved and

those ideas. If God's gonna make a new world,

He's gonna start with you. You're gonna become

a new creation by God's grace when you call upon

Jesus to transform you in that way. So if you've

never experienced that, if you stiff -armed that

or never realized I need that, Well, that's the

invitation Jesus gives to become a new person

from the inside out, cleansed of sin, full of

the Spirit, connected to the Lord Jesus Christ,

a gift of grace. Now let's look at our second

idea today. The first part of this passage really

focuses our attention on our need for this new

life. The second half focuses us on how we get

this new life. And it all centers around the

Lord Jesus Christ. He invites us into and provides

this transformative new life. Let's look at verses

9 through 12 where we realize it's probably starting

to dawn on Nicodemus, what Jesus is asking for,

and he realizes how hard it may be to accept

this vision of the kingdom. Jesus or Nicodemus

asks how this be and Jesus says look you are

Israel's teacher and Do you not understand these

things for years? Nicodemus has been teaching

people how to live under God's covenant But now

he's facing a condition for covenant membership

faithfulness that he's never faced before And

Jesus says, but Nicodemus, you should have glimpsed

these truths from the Old Testament. You should

be able to connect God's vision there with what

you see in me. Because again, Nicodemus kind

of sees it. All right, you're doing great things.

You are sent by God. But Jesus wants him to get

even closer to the truth. And so he'll continue

to instruct him because that's how good and patient

Jesus is. He says in verse 11, very truly I tell

you. We speak of what we know, and we testify

to what we have seen. But still you people do

not accept our testimony. Nicodemus, you're gonna

have to clear out some of your resistance if

you really want to grasp the nature of the kingdom.

And in some ways, Nicodemus here is functioning

as a representative of Israel. In other words,

Nicodemus, just look at how people are responding

to my ministry. Jesus shows up and he throws

a demon out of someone. It's dark satanic oppression.

They get delivered. In some instances, there's

even physical maladies connected with being demon

possessed. People get liberated and healed. And

what do people say? Well, he's just in league

with Satan himself, or else he couldn't do that.

Jesus goes into the synagogue. He heals someone

whose hand is withered, which probably means

that person also couldn't work the way they wanted

to. And you think of how dependent you are on

the well -being of your body and mind to work.

Imagine losing that, not only being able to make

money, but just the joy you might find from getting

something done. Jesus heals that man with the

withered hand, and they say, you've got six days

to heal. Come back on another day. And friends,

we go on. and on and on. He feeds people and

there's resistance. The disciples can pluck grain

on the Sabbath. That's not exactly Sunday supper.

They pluck grain on the Sabbath and the Pharisees

are like, well, you shouldn't do that. It's the

Sabbath day. Jesus shows up. He's doing great

things for people. And instead they resist by

saying, nope, that goes against the traditions.

Nope, that goes against what we think God wants.

They're not willing. to rethink their categories.

And that's why Jesus says in verse 12, look,

if I've spoken to you of earthly things and you

do not believe, how then will you believe if

I speak of heavenly things? In other words, if

I've given you the basics and you don't want

to hear it, how are you ever really going to

grasp the nature of participating in God's reign

and being a part of His people? So this is then

where Jesus drives home the whole conversation

with Nicodemus look if you want to participate

in this new life if you want to participate in

this kingdom, then you've got to reorient your

whole being your spiritual vision to me and focus

yourself on me and bend everything that you want

and hope for to Me and Jesus drives that point

home in these final verses, verses 13 to 16.

He says, no one's ever gone into heaven except

the one who came from heaven, the Son of Man.

I like the NLT here a little better, a little

clearer, which reads, no one has ever gone to

heaven and returned, but the Son of Man has come

down from heaven. Nicodemus, if you want to get

the source straight from the horse's mouth, I'm

the only one. that's actually come down from

heaven to reveal these things. So you can trust

me when I tell you that you need the new birth.

Who can give it to you? I can. Who can convince

you that you need it? I can. Only the one from

heaven, and that's me. So Nicodemus, stop thinking

about your traditions, stop thinking about how

you think you have it right, and focus on me.

Bring yourself really under my authority. Lordship.

And here's what I'll do for you. Just as Moses

lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the

Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone

who believes may have eternal life in him." Nicodemus,

you know that old story in the Old Testament

where people grumbled and fiery serpents appeared

and bit them? How did they get healed? They just

looked up at this servant. So Nicodemus, on that.

One to whom you need to look I'll be lifted up

soon right on a cross and if you look towards

me I know that can be vague language, but if

you will fix your gaze on me if you'll look at

me as the one who can cleanse you of that poison

of the one who can give you life, and if you'll

bring yourself under my authority and under my

Lordship, and if you'll trust me to cleanse you

and forgive you then I will give you eternal

life because God loves his world. God has sent

me not to condemn his world, but to save it.

God has this purpose for humanity that leads

to their transformation and their rescue and

their healing. But there's only one way for it

to happen. By you committing yourself to me,

trusting me, experiencing this new birth, and

living as a kingdom citizen in the way that I

define it. And so friends, that is both the challenge

and the good news that I would leave you with.

Yes, it's challenging to rethink what we know

about God's kingdom, but if we do it in this

Jesus -shaped gospel -based way, then friends,

you'll find yourself living with a better frame

of mind and a better world and working for the

good things that God's kingdom brings by being

a servant of the Lord Jesus, one who trusts in

him and one is shaped by him. That little growth

in you can spread out into a church and a community

and beyond. So let's ask God to do that for all

of us today, to change us wherever we need it

and to make that fruitful. Pray with me, friends.