WTTW HIS WORD

TEXT: JOHN 3:1-21 SERMON: “Your Spiritual Birth”

Introduction: In this passage John tells his first century readers that God is going to save “the world” – all people - through His Son by their:

I. Being born again. v 3,7

II. Being born of water & the Spirit. v 5,6,8

III. Believing in the Cross. v 14,15

IV. Believing in His Son. v 10-13,16-18

V. Coming into His Light. v 19-21


This morning we’ll begin by looking at how God is going to save people through His Son by talking about

A. BEING BORN AGAIN

Explanation:

- John 3:3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they
are born again.”

Birth = our entrance into the world

Born Again = Born From Above (Greek) – spiritual rebirth

Born Again = transformation for entering another world – Kingdom of God

- Matthew 3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

Repent = make a radical change in one’s life

- John 3:7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’

You = plural – for everyone, no exceptions!

Born of Spirit = New Life – unexplainable by ordinary reasoning

Inner change = Direct Act of God

Illustration: To illustrated this,

Birth of a Butterfly: Hatching after Transforming from a Caterpillar
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=44640880585792574#

Application:

Have we hatched like this butterfly on the inside?

If the caterpillar is our physical being, has our spiritual being been transformed from above by God into a butterfly?

Has our spiritual being undergone a fundamental change like this?

An inner change that brings us into a new world – God’s World, His Kingdom?

Living for Him instead of for ourselves or for this world?

Transition: Let’s move on to understand this further by looking at another aspect of how God is going to save all people through His Son, John says it occurs by their

B. BEING BORN OF WATER & SPIRIT

Explanation:

- John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
Born of Water and the Spirit =

1. John’s Teaching Repentance & Baptism = in response to God’s appeal

2. Coming Messenger of God (Jesus) – Holy Spirit = transformation of life by Holy Spirit

- Acts 22:16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away,
calling on his name.

- Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done but because of his mercy.
He saved us by the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

Not legalism or outward conformity!

- John 3:6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

- John 1:13 (Yet to all who received him..) children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

- 1 Corinthians 15:50 I declare to you brothers that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does perishable inherit the imperishable.

- John 3:8 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.”

Spirit = Wind = origin and destiny are unknown to those who feel it

Spirit gives birth to spirit…born of God…born of the Spirit…

- 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for,
“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”[a] (Isaiah 40:13)
But we have the mind of Christ.

Spirit transformed mind is discerning and Christ-like!

Illustration:

Conversation with a patient in the hospital who initially fought being there.

Looking back on her hospitalization saw God at work… We discussed this text.

The wind blowing in the trees… seeing the effect of the wind even though you can’t see the wind…

Was like the Spirit of God moving throughout the hospital in all those who she came in contact with, with all of those who helped her…

She was able to see the Spirit of God at work in her life rustling the leaves of the trees so to speak in rustling the people around her and in her to be helped and to receive and accept help.

Application: So what can John be telling us today.

Are we able to discern things through the Spirit?

Do we have the mind of Christ Paul talks about?

Are we able to see the wind blowing around us, the Spirit moving?

Have we been born of the Spirit so that we are able to make judgments about all things?

Are we able to understand what is happening around us from a spiritual perspective, using our spiritual eyes?

Transition: Let’s move on in quest for being born again to look at another aspect John gives for how God is going to save all people through His Son, he says it is by their

C. BELIEVING IN THE CROSS – START LIGHTHOUSE BEAM ILLUSTRATION

Explanation:

- John 3:14-15 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

- Numbers 21:8 8 The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.”

Ancient Israelites Sin
1. disobedience & grumbling, unthankful spirit
2. under condemnation by God & being punished for their sin
3. emblem of their judgment elevated before them
4. unable to rescue themselves
5. no antidote for serpents’ poison
6. urged “to look” at the serpent in order to live

Lifted Up = Exalted

- John 8:28 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.

- John 12:32 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
A call to receive Him as God’s provision for cure of sin and complete confidence for the future (eternal life)!

- Matthew 27:42 42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.

Illustration:

Lighthouse Beam – look to it – guide, safety, protection, life!
http://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/321433/night-lighthouse-beam-medium-looping.html

Application:

Review our sin and salvation using 5 points of ancient Israelite’s sin and salvation
Our Sin
7. disobedience & grumbling, unthankful spirit – OUR SINFUL NATURE
8. under condemnation by God & being punished for our sin – WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH
9. emblem of our judgment elevated before us – JESUS CHRIST ON THE CROSS
10. unable to rescue ourselves – NOT BY WORKS
11. no antidote for serpents’ poison – OUR SINFUL NATURE IS LETHAL
12. urged “to look” at the serpent in order to live – LOOK TO THE CROSS FOR LIFE!
What are we looking at in order to live?

Transition: Let’s move on to consider one more aspect of how God is going to save people through His Son, John says it is by their

D. BELIEVING IN HIS SON – START METEORITE SHOWER ILLUSTRATION

Explanation:

- John 3:10-13 10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 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. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.

Israel’s Teacher? = should know these things Proverbs 30:4
- Proverbs 30:4 4 Who has gone up to heaven and come down?
Whose hands have gathered up the wind?
Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and what is the name of his son?
Surely you know!
“we” = Jesus and disciples or Jesus and Godhead
“earthly things” = concrete analogy of the wind
“heavenly things” = Revelation, not discovery, is the basis for faith!

- John 1:18 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

- John 6:38 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.

- John 3:16-18 16 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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

world = all people on earth

believes, does not believe = continuing settled attitudes

- John 11:25,26 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

- Romans 10:9-10 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Most important message of the Gospel =

1. salvation is a gift of God
2. received only by believing in God for it
3. consists of accepting something, not doing something
4. result of belief is (a) freedom from condemnation, (b) eternal life and (c) living in a relationship of total honesty with God

- John 5:24 24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

- 1 John 4:9 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

Two Options (to Good News) :

1. Eternal Life

a. duration of existence
b. quality of existence (vs futility)

2. Perish = opposite of salvation – not cease to exist

a. to fail completely of fulfilling God’s purpose and consequently to be excluded forever from his fellowship

b. to experience utter failure, futility, and loss of all that makes existence worthwhile

God’s purpose towards humankind is positive = Love, 1) not to condemn, 2) but to save

God’s purpose in sending Jesus = 1) to show His Love and 2) draw people to Him

- Romans 5:8 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

- Isaiah 53:11 11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

The crux of belief and unbelief and the effects of each!

Illustration:

Meteorite Shower
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mhvkoxg1W4&feature=player_embedded#at=39

Application:

Do we believe He came from His father?

Do we believe He reveals His father?

Do we believe He loves us?

Do we believe?

Do we believe he died and rose again?

This is the most important thing of all!

This determines our eternity…

Are we saved?

Are we perishing?

Transition: Let’s look at the final aspect John gives for how God is going to save people through His Son, he says it is by their

E. COMING INTO HIS LIGHT

Explanation:

- John 3:19-21 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Difference between believers and unbelievers:

1. not in their guilt or innocence

2. but in their different attitudes towards the “light”

- John 1:4 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

- Psalm 52:3 3 You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth.

- Ephesians 5:11, 13 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them… 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.

- John 7:7 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil.

Unbelievers shrink from light – exposes their deeds

Believers come into the light so their real motives can be revealed

- 1 John 1:8-9 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Darkness keeps people from responding to the light!
All of us are held accountable for our actions: choice is ours!

Illustration:

Photography – flash photography, light exposes film = we see!

If it remains dark we don’t see!

Application:

Do we allow God to use flash photography on our lives?

Do we come into his light, do we come to His Son so that our darkness can be exposed?

Or do we remain in the darkness, not allowing his light to shine on us, instead continuing to fool ourselves that somehow there is life in the dark?

Transition to Conclusion:

In this passage John tells his first century readers that God is going to save “the world” – all people - through His Son by their:

I. Being born again.

II. Being born of water & the Spirit.

III. Believing in the Cross.

IV. Believing in His Son.

V. Coming into His Light.

Conclusion:

In this passage John tells us that God saves us today through His Son by our:

I. Being born again. – spiritually transformed like the a caterpillar to a butterfly

II. Being born of water & the Spirit. – washing of rebirth/renewal by the Holy Spirit - wind

III. Believing in the Cross. – the antidote for our lethal sinful nature

IV. Believing in His Son. – who demonstration of God’s love for us

V. Coming into His Light. – not hiding our deeds which lead to death

Be Born Again!

In the name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Amen.