You Must Be Born Again (John 3:1-21) - Rev. Trevin Hoot

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus,

a ruler of the Jews. 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 him, Truly, truly, 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, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless

one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot

enter the kingdom of God. That which is born

in 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 and you hear its sound, but you

do not know where it comes from or where it goes.

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

Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be?

Jesus answered him, are you the teacher of Israel

and yet you do not understand these things? Truly,

truly I say to you, we speak of what we know

and bear witness to what we have seen, but you

do not receive our testimony. If I have told

you earthly things and you do not believe, how

can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

No one has ascended into heaven except He who

descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as

Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,

so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever

believes in Him may have eternal life. For God

so loved the world that He gave His only Son,

that whoever believes in Him should not perish

but have eternal life. For God did not send his

Son into the world to condemn the world, but

in order that the world might be saved through

him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned,

but whoever does not believe is condemned already,

because he has not believed in the name of the

only Son of God. And this is the judgment. The

light has come into the world, and people loved

the darkness rather than the light, because their

works were evil. For everyone who does wicked

things hates the light and does not come to the

light, lest his work should be exposed. But whoever

does what is true comes to the light so that

it may be clearly seen that his works have been

carried out in God. Let's pray. Father, I thank

you for this church. I thank you for this opportunity

to preach your word here in this church. Lord,

I pray that you would give us your spirit. I

pray that by your spirit we would be born again

and that we would see the kingdom of God. that

we would see who Christ is, that we would understand

what he has done, what he has come to do for

us. Lord, I pray that this would drive us to

deeper faith, to deeper repentance, and that

we would no longer do wickedness, but that we

would be people who live in the light and do

what is good and right and true. Lord, give us

faith, help us to believe, help us to not ignore

what the word is saying to us, what the spirit

is saying to us in the scriptures. And Lord,

may everyone hear. be born again. We pray these

things in Jesus' name. Amen. As Pastor Kenny

said earlier, I'm a pastor of a little church

in Sofia, Bulgaria. Our church's name is New

Life. And this morning we will be talking about

how to have new life in Christ through the spirits.

And I bring you greetings from the church in

Bulgaria. As Pastor Kenny said earlier this morning

when we read the Apostle's Creed, That's the

same creed that the church has been reciting

together for thousands of years, and it's a creed

that we recite together in Sofia, Bulgaria, because

there is only one church and one faith and one

spirit. And it's a pleasure to be with you here

this morning to learn about our one Lord and

Savior, Jesus Christ. But there is something

wrong with us. There's something wrong in our

hearts. There's something wrong. with every human

being close to the core of who they are as people,

of what it means to be a person. There's been

something wrong with humanity almost since the

beginning of humanity. And we feel it. We see

it in the news. We see it through tales of war,

famine, plague. We see it in our daily lives,

in our families. It shouldn't be the case. that

mothers tear down their daughters. It shouldn't

be the case that fathers are cruel to their sons.

It shouldn't be the case that children disown

their parents. It shouldn't be the case that

people lie to each other, cheat each other, steal

each other. It shouldn't be the case that neighbors

would fight and feud for years over two inches

of property. But that's the case. We sin. We

are sinners. We were made in the image of God,

but our first parents, Adam and Eve, rebelled

against their Lord, chose to do sin instead of

following the Lord. And we, every human being,

has since followed suit. We participate in that

rebellion, so much so that we cannot imagine

a different reality. We were made in the image

of God, and we don't act like it. Instead, We

act like monsters, tearing each other apart and

blaspheming the Lord, his holy name. And we pretend

like everything is normal. We might even go to

church on Sunday morning after screaming at our

kids. And we open our Bibles and we pray and

we open our hymnals and sing praises to the Lord,

even though we... hate people made in his image.

Brothers and sisters, this should not be the

case. Is there any hope to this story? Is there

any way that we monsters could be made into living

beings again, living humans again? Is there any

chance for our story to have a happy ending?

There is a chance, but it would take a miracle.

But that's exactly the thing that our heavenly

father sent his son Jesus Christ to do, to bring

us his Holy Spirit. He came to do more than just

be a good counselor. He came to do more than

just be a good teacher. He even came to do more

than just forgive us for our sins. All these

things are good and necessary, and we needed

those things, but we need more than that. We

need new life. We need new birth. We need the

Holy Spirit to change us from the inside, to

make us into new people. And the Son promises

that for us today. Brothers and sisters, we must.

be born again. We need to be born again. And

so this morning from this passage from John 3

John 3:21

verses 21, 1 through 21, I will be talking about

three aspects of what it means to be born again.

Yes, even in Bulgaria, that's another thing that

unites the church. I preach in three points.

We must be born again of the Spirit. We must

be born again to faith. and we must be born again

to good works. What does it mean to be born again

of the spirits? John chapter three is one of

the most famous chapters in the book of John,

and one of its verses, John chapter three verse

16, is one of the most famous verses in all of

scripture. But John chapter three verse 16 is

in the context of a story of Nicodemus. coming

to see Jesus in the middle of the night. Nicodemus

was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews. Now,

for those of you who have been in church, who

read the Gospels, we know a little bit about

the Pharisees. They are always the bad guys.

They're the ones who are constantly fought and

bickered with Jesus throughout his ministry.

They're the ones who conspired with the Sadducees

to have Jesus crucified. But at this point in

the story, they don't yet hate Jesus. This is

still early on in Jesus' ministry. And so, Nicodemus,

a Pharisee, could be coming to Jesus in the middle

of the night trying to figure out just who is

this Jesus fellow, this Jesus of Nazareth. In

the chapter before, Jesus had gone to the temple.

And he had cleansed the temple from the tradesmen

selling things there. And the Pharisees would

have thought that that would be a pretty good

thing to do. They had been wanting to do that

themselves. And so maybe this new teacher, this

popular teacher, is someone that they can play

ball with. And so Nicodemus, the Pharisee, flattered

Jesus. And he says, Rabbi, we know that you are

a teacher come from God, for no one can do these

things that you do unless God is with him. He

was paying Jesus a big compliment. He was coming

to this young teacher and saying, hey, we'd like

you to join our team, maybe even to become a

Pharisee. Do you want Jesus to be on your team?

Do you want Jesus to be a part of your life?

Would you be willing to give Jesus a five -star

review on Google? I remember a few years ago,

scrolling on Facebook, and you would see these

pictures of a very sad -looking Jesus. And he

would say, please like my photo, or please like

this post. It only takes a second. Why wouldn't

you just like this post of Jesus? The thing is,

brothers, Jesus does not need our likes on Facebook.

Jesus does not need our Google reviews. Jesus

does not need our approval. Jesus does not care

about an invitation to join his team or to our

invitation for him to join our team. Because

Jesus is Lord and not us. Jesus is the one who

invites us to be a part of his family, to enter

into his kingdom. And he will not accept anything

less than our whole hearts. And so that's why

when Nicodemus flattered Jesus, Jesus rejected

his invitation, didn't even answer it, and said,

You think you've seen, you think you see me?

You think you know who I am and what I'm about?

You can see nothing unless you have been born

again. We have no chance to understand who Jesus

is and what his ministry is unless we have been

born again by water and the Spirit. What does

that mean? How can we be born again by water

and the Spirit? Nicodemus didn't understand what

Jesus was talking about either, and Jesus said,

you should. Don't you know the scriptures? Don't

you know the promises from Ezekiel, chapter 36,

Ezekiel 36:25–28

verses 25 through 28? I'll read them for us.

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall

be clean from all your uncleannesses. From all

your idols I will cleanse you, and I will give

you a new heart. and a new spirit I will put

within you. And I will remove the heart of stone

from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put my spirit within you and cause

you to walk in my statutes and be careful to

obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that

I give to your fathers and you shall be my people

and I will be your God." Jesus said to Nicodemus,

that has to happen to you before you can understand

who I am and what's going on. or what I'm doing.

Being baptized with the Holy Spirit is another

way of saying you must be born again. Jesus said

to Nicodemus, you, even you, the Pharisee, the

greatest theologian of your day, the best church

people of your day, you must be born again. This

would have been shocking to Nicodemus. Being

born again, being baptized with the Holy Spirit

is something that needs to happen to other people.

I already know the law. I already know the scriptures.

I already know what the Lord wants from me, and

I can do it. And Jesus says, no, even you need

to be cleansed from your idolatry. Even you need

to be cleansed from your sin. Even you are hard

-hearted, and even you need to be saved. Being

born again, being baptized with the Spirit is

not something that we can do by ourselves. It's

not something that we can make God do for us.

It's even not something that we want to happen

often. As it's written in John chapter 1, verses

John 1:1–13

1 through 13, becoming a child of God is not

something that can be done by the will of flesh

or by the will of man. It is only done by the

will of God. It's a miracle. And it's our only

hope for our salvation. And brothers and sisters,

in our flesh, we hate this doctrine. We hate

it. Because we, like the Pharisees, feel like

we need to contribute to our salvation. That

we have to participate in order for it to be

real. And why do we feel like we need to participate

in order for it to be real? So we can compare

ourselves. with others, so we can compare ourselves,

and especially to compare ourselves favorably,

so that we can claim that we were the wise ones

who really got it, whereas those who didn't get

it, they're the fools. We want our good works,

our theology, our churchiness. We want to use

these to commend ourselves to the Lord and somehow

earn our salvation. But the doctrine of new birth

ought to humble us. Because we, like Nicodemus,

like the Pharisees, like every Christian throughout

all of history, throughout all the world, are

only saved by the grace of God. and there are

no other options. All Christians are baptized

by the same spirit into the same church. All

Christians have only one Lord, one faith, one

water baptism, and one future hope. All Christians,

by definition, are baptized by the Holy Spirit.

All Christians, by definition, have been born

again. If we have not been born again, we are

not Christians. We are not saved. There are not

two levels of Christianity. There is no such

thing as a carnal Christian who does not have

the spirit. There are two types of people in

the world. There are those who have been born

again and those who have not. And if we aren't

born again, we aren't saved. There is no two

levels of Christianity, a normal level where

most Christians reside, and a future higher level

that we can reach through being serious, through

praying hard enough, through constant study.

It's not that we can access some sort of Christian

superpowers, that we can somehow through our

deeper faith have access to miracles, to reach

a point where we will never be tempted again,

or to understand the full counsel of the Lord,

to have these hidden things revealed to us. There's

only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one

Holy Spirit, and he is common for all Christians.

And we cannot, therefore, Lord, our faith and

our spirituality over other believers. We must

be born again. So, how do we know if we're born

again? How can we be born again? This can be

a difficult question to answer. Jesus says in

John chapter three, verses eight, that the wind

blows where it wishes and you hear it sound,

but you do not know where it comes from or where

it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of

the spirit. The spirit's invisible. And his work

of the inward heart is often invisible. How can

we see and know that we are born again if we

cannot see the spirit? We can know from seeing

the effects of the spirit. I cannot see the wind,

but I can see the branches of the trees rustling.

So it is with the Holy Spirit. I'll share my

personal testimony. I was raised in a Christian

home. I made a confession of faith when I was

seven. I was in a Baptist church, so I was baptized

when I was seven. But I was still doubting whether

or not I was really saved. I wasn't certain.

I knew cognitively that the Lord saved sinners,

those who believe in him. But I wasn't sure that

I was one of those sinners that the Lord would

save. And so I was afraid. I was afraid of the

Lord and His judgment. I was afraid that I would

die and I would go to hell for all eternity.

And so at night I would sleep with a baseball

bat next to my bed so I can ward off any intruders

that might want to break into my house and kill

me. It sounds funny, but I was a little kid.

I was eight years old, and I was terrified of

death, and I was wondering what prayer can I

pray to get God to love me? It was a mystery,

and I didn't know how to get it. And so I would

constantly go up whenever they had altar calls

and pray, Lord, if I am not saved, please save

me. And I never felt. Different. Something was

wrong. What was it? It was when I was 13. And

I realized that the Lord doesn't just love sinners

generally. The Lord loves me. The Lord sent his

son to live, to die. to rise again to save me.

And I believe in him. And so now, no matter what,

I am safe. And after that night, I did not need

a baseball bat next to my bed, because I knew

that no matter what, I was safe. So when was

I born again? It is impossible to answer that

question. Was I born again after I made my first

confession of faith? After I was baptized the

first time? After I made my 10th confession of

faith? After I finally got it when I was 13,

when I was baptized again later on? When was

I born again? It does not matter. What matters

from my perspective is that I heard the call

that I was loved by the Lord and that I have

responded with faith. And so no matter what,

those who are born again will hear the Lord's

call and they will respond in faith. And so brothers

and sisters, if you want to be born again, believe.

Because you are born again to believe. You are

born again to have faith. Now, what must we believe?

John 3 16 is one of the most wonderful verses

in all of the Bible. It's almost a cliche, but

it doesn't mean it's any less true and any less

magnificent. It's a wonderful summary of the

gospel. And if you know only this verse, you

have a good start. For God so loved the world

that he gave his only son that whoever believes

in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

I want to point something out in this passage,

in this verse. When did God the Father start

to love us? When did he start to love his church?

He didn't start to love us when we believed.

He didn't even start to love us in our lifetime.

He didn't send his Son into the world so that

He could love us. He didn't send His Holy Spirit

into the world so that He could love us. The

Father loved His people from all eternity, and

that's why He sent His Son into the world to

save us. How beautiful and how terrible is the

love of God. that he would send his innocent,

his beautiful, his gorgeous, his magnificent

son into the world to save monsters like us?

People who tear each other apart? Sinners like

us? People who blaspheme his holy name? How dare

he send his beautiful son to save people like

us? How could he send his wonderful son into

the lion's den to save the people who would consume

him? That's the love of the Holy Father for his

church, that he would be willing to send his

son to die for us. How amazing is that grace.

Don't ever Take that grace for granted. Believe

it, church. This is the love of the Father that

He sent His Son to die for us because He loves

us. There is no gift that we could ever give

that could repay the Father for this kind of

love. Even to try would be offensive. What He

wants us to do In response to that love is only

believe. To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And he will save us and he will draw us to himself.

He will make us his children so we can live with

him and be blessed with him forever. And so Christian,

do you believe in the son? That's the point of

the book of John. The point of the book of John

according to John chapter 20, is that we would

John 20 · chapter mention

believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and

that we would have life in His name. So do you

believe? The struggle is that sometimes we mix

up the fruit of faith with faith. When asking

do you believe, what we often do is point to

our good works. Of course I believe. I go to

church every Sunday. But I'm not asking you,

do you go to church every Sunday? I'm asking

you, do you believe? I'm not asking you if you're

a good father. Do you believe in Jesus Christ?

I'm not asking you if you're a good businessman.

Do you believe? I'm not asking you if you're

moral. Do you believe in Jesus Christ? I'm not

asking you if you're reformed. Do you believe

in Jesus Christ? I'm not asking you if you tithe.

Do you believe in Jesus Christ? I'm not asking

you if you're a good pastor, a good elder, a

good deacon, a good missionary. If you can't

answer yes to the question, do you believe in

Jesus Christ, none of those things matter and

you're on the road to hell. Do you believe? If

you don't believe, none of those things have

any meaning. But if you do, they carry eternal

meaning. Don't mix up the fruits of faith with

faith. But that doesn't mean the fruits of faith

are useless. Because on the basis of the faith,

we ought to live in the light. In fact, that's

the purpose of our being born again. We were

born again to do good works. We are born again

to be in the light John chapter 3 verse 17 Continues

John 3:17

the thought from John chapter 3 16 for God did

John 3 · chapter mention

not send his world and son into the world to

condemn the world But in order that the world

might be saved through him Why didn't God need

to send his son into the world to condemn the

world John continues and answers that question

Because whoever does not believe is condemned

already. Whoever does not believe is in the darkness

because their work is evil and they are condemned

already. A little while ago, my son Frank, if

you get our prayer cards, he's the boy, he's

the one making the silly face. It was 3 a .m.

in the morning. I was asleep in one room, in

our room, he was asleep in the next room, and

I heard a scream in the middle of the night,

three o 'clock, and I ran into the room, and

I said, Frank, Frank, what's wrong? And he said,

there's something scary in my room, on my bed.

I was thinking, what is it? Is it an intruder?

Is it a bear? Is it a curtain? Is it this stuffed

bee from Ikea? And he saw it. And he laughed

and he said, oh, I thought it was something scary.

And he fell right to sleep. And my heart was

still beating. Kids naturally are afraid of the

darkness. They're afraid of what might be hidden

there. But as we grow older, we lose our fear

of the darkness. And in fact, darkness seems

a little bit appealing. Because in the darkness

we can hide. In the darkness we can play. you

start to think that the darkness is a fun place

to be. Now, as I said earlier, we have no business

being afraid of the darkness because our Lord

is the great protector. But there are monsters

in the darkness. And if we play in the darkness,

away from the light of God, away from the light

of truth, we will become the monsters and the

darkness. Christian do not play in the dark.

We are called to be people of the light to live

in the light and those who live in the light

do what is true so that it may be clearly seen

that his works have been carried out in God.

How do we get out of the darkness and into light?

It happens through repentance. Kenny very conveniently

defined repentance earlier, but I will read from

the Westminster Shorter Catechism, question 87,

that defines what is repentance unto life. Repentance

unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner

out of a true sense of his sin and apprehension

of the mercy of God in Christ does with grief

and hatred of his sin turn from it unto God with

full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience.

Repentance is more than just saying, I'm sorry.

Repentance is also more than just confessing

your sin. I know plenty of people that confess

their sin and then shamelessly confess their

sin and continue to do the same thing. They're

even proud of it. It's more than just a desire

to change. Repentance means hating our sin. Loving.

the grace of God offered in Christ, and deciding

to turn after it in new obedience. To illustrate

this, for those of you who are parents, it is

Father's Day after all, you might offer your

kid a wonderful handmade meal full of delicious

vegetables, delicious meats, homemade bread,

And they will say, yucky, I don't want it. But

give your kid a candy. And they are walking down

the streets, and they drop the candy in the mud.

And they think, that's not a problem. And they'll

bend down and put it right back into their mouth.

And you think, ugh, that's terrible. Why is it

that your child thinks that Nasty floor candy

is appetizing, whereas the thought of us putting

that in our mouth is the most disgusting thing

we can think of. I can see the horror on your

faces. It's because you have repented. When we

repent, we see that that floor candy is no longer

delicious. It is something disgusting. And that

delicious homemade meal is no longer yucky. but

something delicious. That's what happens when

we repent of our sin. We decide when we realize

that something that's yucky, disgusting, lying,

cheating, stealing, lust, those things which

used to seem good to us are now abhorrent. And

those things that used to seem too difficult

and even foolish to us, being honest, sharing

the gospel, being faithful, even to our hurt,

and being generous. Those are the things that

are beautiful. And as we grow in our repentance,

sin will seem more and more disgusting to us,

like floricandy. and righteousness will seem

more and more beautiful. Now it isn't always,

it doesn't always happen in an instant, though

sometimes it does. It doesn't always like turning

a light on the switch, sometimes it's something

that we have to fight for. Repentance is a process

that will take our whole lives and it's not something

that will be perfected in this life. But brothers

and sisters, we can't use that as an excuse not

to try. If we truly believe that righteousness

is beautiful and that sin is disgusting, then

that ought to characterize our life and bring

about real and honest change. If we truly repent,

we no longer think of ourselves as victims. of

our personal wants and desires, that they'd be

impossible to fight. We can no longer justify

ourselves saying that I had to sin, that I had

no options. We no longer think of ourselves as

victims, but we realize what's true. When I sin,

I'm the criminal. And there might be explanations

for my actions, but there isn't any justification.

We take responsibility for what we have done.

And we realize how we have hurt the people around

us. How we have hurt those we've said we love.

How we have hurt our brothers and sisters in

the church and how we have hurt our neighbors.

And how we have dishonored the name of our God.

But it's not all bad news. Because in repentance,

we realize that we remember the grace of God.

That because of Jesus, we are truly forgiven.

That fills us with love. That fills us with joy.

And that brings us to new, and that causes us

to live in the light and bear fruits of repentance.

The Holy Spirit who has given you new birth is

more powerful than any of our twisted fleshly

desires. And when we repent and when we actually

desire to change, we can be changed. There is

hope for real change. But if we continue to justify

ourselves, if we continue to harbor bitterness,

harbor selfish thoughts, if we continue to hide

our sins, if we continue to think that the Bible

has no right to tell us how to live our lives

or the pastor or someone has no right to tell

us how to live our lives, if we think we have

reached a certain point of holiness and that's

it, I don't want anymore. This is fine, I'm fine

the way I am and I don't really want to change

anymore. We're not acting like the living, like

living beings anymore. We're acting like we're

returning right back to the darkness that we

thought that we should have escaped from. So

don't let that happen to you. The Christian life

is one of repentance. That's why this church

and our church in Bulgaria practice repentance

every Sunday. so that it be a constant reminder

that sin is disgusting and righteousness and

the grace of God is beautiful. And so let us

be changed by the Holy Spirit. Let us believe

in the Son of God. Let us rest in the Father's

love for us. By these things, know that we are

born again. That being born again has a look.

I'm going to read from 2 Corinthians, close out

with reading from 2 Corinthians 3, verse 16 through

2 Corinthians 3:16–18

18. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil

is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where

the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

And we all, with unveiled faces, beholding the

glory of the Lord, are being transformed into

the same image, from one degree of glory to another.

For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

We will be continuing this battle throughout

our whole lives. The Lord will be changing us

throughout our whole lives. He will be transforming

us throughout our whole lives. But one day, by

the Spirit's power, we will see the Lord, and

we will be perfected, and we will be glorified,

and we will shine with a radiance brighter than

the sun. Keep going, church. We're gonna make

it. Let's pray.