THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
BORN ANEW
DR. JIM DIXON
JUNE 14, 1987
JOHN 3:1-21
His name was Nicodemus and he was very, very special. He was Jewish, and that made him special. There were 140 million people on the Earth, but only 2 million Jews. And they were God’s chosen people. It wasn’t that God loved them more, it was simply that God had chosen them to be custodians and stewards of His law and of His word. But even among the Jews, Nicodemus was special because Nicodemus was a Pharisee. There were 2 million Jews, but only 6,000 Pharisees. The Pharisees were the separate ones. They had devoted their lives to the performance of the law.
Every word, every action of the Pharisees lives was to represent and reflect the law of God. Every jot and tittle of the law was their command. They were meant to live exemplary lives before the people, the living embodiment of the law, and they had religious power in Israel. But even among the Pharisees, Nicodemus was special because Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin, the high Jewish court. It has been said that the Sanhedrin was the equivalent in Israel of the United States Supreme Court, but it really was more than that. It was the equivalent of our entire government—executive, legislative, and judicial. It was the government of the Jews and there were only 71 members of the Sanhedrin, counting the high priest. Nicodemus was one of these.
But even amongst the Sanhedrin Nicodemus was special, because the Sanhedrin consisted of Jews from virtually every socioeconomic group but Nicodemus was from the highest socioeconomic class. He was nobility and he was, by all accounts, very, very rich. You see, Nicodemus had economic power. He had political power. He had religious power. He had all power in Israel, but something was missing in his life and he knew it. He did not have eternal life. Deep down in his heart and soul, he knew he would never conquer death. And so he came to the carpenter of Nazareth.
He came by night. Perhaps he feared the disapproval of the Sanhedrin. Perhaps he just wanted to see this man Jesus in privacy. But he came to Jesus by night and he said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a man sent from God, for no man can do the signs that You do unless God be with him.” And Jesus Christ cut right through the flattery. He saw the heart of Nicodemus. He saw the real need and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a man is born anew, he shall not see the kingdom of God. Unless a man is born anew, he shall not enter the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus did not understand. He said, “How can this be? 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 said, “Do you marvel that I say to you, ‘you must be born anew’? That which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” There is physical birth by which we enter this physical world, and there is spiritual birth through which we enter the kingdom of heaven. You must be born again this morning. I have two teachings from the Lord based on our passage of scripture for today concerning the meaning of rebirth.
The first teaching is this: rebirth requires belief in Jesus Christ. If you want to be born anew, if you want to enter the kingdom of heaven and receive eternal life, you must believe in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him might receive eternal life.” Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” Rebirth takes place only through belief. If you believe in Christ, if you truly believe in Christ, then you are reborn. You’ve been born from above. The Greek words are anothen gennao. Sometimes the words are ana gennao. Either way, they mean the same thing. They can mean to be born again, or they can mean to be born from heaven. And if you believe in Jesus Christ truly, you have been born from heaven. You have been born anew and He has sent His spirit within you. You are a child of God and you have eternal life.
But what does it mean to believe in Jesus Christ? It’s a word that has been much misunderstood in our time. Many people when they think of this word “belief” think of intellectual assent. They think of affirming certain truths. They think that to believe in Jesus Christ means to affirm certain facts about him; to affirm that He lived a sinless life; to affirm that He died an atoning death; to affirm that He rose from the dead in power and great glory; to affirm that He has ascended into heaven; to affirm that He is set up at the right hand of God the Father; to affirm that he is coming again; to affirm that He is the Son of God.
But none of these things constitute belief. Indeed, the Bible says that the demons themselves make such affirmation and they tremble. Satan himself knows that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life. He knows it. He affirms it. He gives intellectual assent to it. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life, and Satan knows that Jesus Christ died an atoning death. Satan knows that Jesus Christ rose from the dead in power and great glory, and he trembles. And he knows that Jesus Christ has ascended into heaven, and he knows that Jesus Christ is coming again. He knows that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, but he does not believe. He does not believe because the Greek word translated belief is the word pisteuo, and it refers to relinquishment of life, not intellectual assent.
If you truly believe in Jesus Christ, then it’s more than simply affirming certain truths about Him. You must relinquish your life to Him. If you would be born anew, born from above, then you must receive Jesus Christ as Savior and as Lord. You see, this means it’s not enough simply to ask Jesus Christ to save you. There’s nowhere in the Bible where we are told that that’s enough. It’s not enough just to say, “Lord Jesus, forgive me of my sin. Thank you for dying on Calvary’s cross.” You have to take another step If you would truly be born anew. You must receive Jesus Christ as Lord. You must dedicate your life to Him and to His kingship. Rebirth happens in that moment when you truly ask Jesus Christ to be your Lord and you say sincerely that you want to live for Him. That’s when He sends the Spirit within.
Many years ago, there lived a man named Ignatius. He was born to an aristocratic family of Spain in the year 1491. He grew into manhood. He sought more and more money and he sought more and more women, and he attained both. He was exceedingly rich. The more promiscuous he became, however, the more his guilt grew, and there was a void in his heart and a void in his soul. He tried to fill this void through many activities. Ignatius became a soldier. He didn’t need to be a soldier. He was royalty. In fact, he owned his own castle—a beautiful, massive, majestic castle in Spain, surrounded by a moat. It was his, but he left that castle to do battle. He became an officer by his own will. He became an officer in the army of the Duke of Najera.
Ignatius said he sought the glory of men. He saw no glory in God. In the year 1521, Ignatius was defending a fortress at Pamplona. They were being besieged by the French. The French had far greater numbers. Ignatius didn’t want to surrender, but his Spanish friends wanted to surrender in exchange for their lives. Ignatius said, “Let’s fight to the death.” And they did. And they died. Most of them. Ignatius was hit by a cannonball just above the knees, and it literally shattered both of his legs. For 12 days, he was cared for by the French. He was then allowed to return, to be taken back to his castle in Spain. By the time he arrived there, he was extremely sick and near to death. His physicians attended him, but they told him he would only live for 24 hours.
They asked him to make his confession, and he did, but it meant nothing to him. They asked him to take communion, and he did, but it meant nothing to him because he didn’t believe. They told him that in the morning he would be dead. He didn’t care. He would face death as he had faced life, and that was with a clenched fist. But the next morning, something strange happened. He didn’t die. And the mornings passed and the weeks passed, and it soon became evident that Ignatius was going to live—an invalid restricted to his castle, but he would live. And so there he was in his cold, dark castle in his room. He could not move. They would bring him books to read. They brought him one book on the life of Christ. He didn’t want to read it, but he was curious. And so he opened the book up and he read the first page. And the Holy Spirit began to touch his spirit. And he began to read page after page. And as Ignatius began to read the life of Christ, his rebellion began to melt and his heart began to break. Tears came to his eyes, and there in his room with that little book open on his lap, Ignatius gave his life to Jesus Christ. He was born from above.
He said, “Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Save me from my sin. I commit my life to You and to Your service. Be my Lord.” And in that moment, the Spirit came within him. He was born of heaven. A miracle happened: to his amazement and to the amazement of all, his legs were healed and he began to be able to walk. The first thing that Ignatius did was take a pilgrimage to a monastery of Montserrat outside of Barcelona. And there he hung up his sword before a statue of the Son of God in an all-night prayer vigil. He would never fight again except for the kingdom of Christ. He then went to Manresa. Outside of Manresa, there was a cave, and in that cave he stayed for two years, devoting himself to prayer, fasting, and self-denial. During that time Ignatius had a vision of Christ, and Christ said to him, “Will you serve Me?” Ignatius said, “Here am I. Send me.”
He went to Paris and studied theology for seven years. He was ordained as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church in the year 1534. He was a contemporary of Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Zwingli, the Reformers. Like Calvin and like Luther, Ignatius sought reform in the Roman Catholic Church. But unlike Calvin and Luther, Ignatius never left the church. He sought purity and reformation from within. And so it was in 1534, by the hand of God, that Ignatius founded the Society of Jesus, which came to be called the Jesuits. He sought purification of the Roman Catholic Church and he founded what historians call the Counter-Reformation, the internal response within the Catholic Church to the Protestant Reformation from without.
Ignatius began to seek purity within the church. He began to send missionaries all over the world with the gospel. Ignatius personally trained and ordained more than 1,000 missionaries and sent them to Africa and North and South America. In the year 1540, Pope Paul III sanctioned the Society of Jesus. Today, the Jesuits minister in more than 100 countries. They have founded more than 4,000 colleges and universities. Here in our country, the Jesuits have founded Boston College, Fordham University, St. Louis University, the University at San Francisco, Loyola University in New Orleans, and Loyola University in Chicago. And it’s appropriate that universities should bear the name Loyola, because the full name of Ignatius was Ignatius of Loyola. He sought purification within the church and he took the gospel all over the world. He has impacted Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, but it never would’ve happened had there not been a moment in the loneliness of his room in his big castle where, sitting on his bed with a book on his lap, he was born from heaven—a moment when he truly consecrated his life to Jesus Christ and received Christ as Lord and Savior. You see, you don’t need to have your legs shattered with a cannon ball and you don’t need to go and live two years in a cave near Manresa. You don’t need a vision of Christ, but you do need to be born anew. Unless a man be born anew, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
The moment you say, “Lord Jesus, come into my heart. I want to live for You,” the moment you say, “Take my life and let it be consecrated unto Thee,” the moment you make that commitment and that decision, a miracle happens. You’re born from heaven. And in that moment, the Holy Spirit comes in. You don’t have to believe perfectly. Your faith can be mixed with doubt. You simply need enough faith that you’re willing to commit your life to His lordship. Anything less is too little. And when you commit your life to His lordship, He sends His Holy Spirit within, and you’re born from on high.
You know, physical birth is a miracle. I’ve been reading about some miraculous physical birth recently. There was a couple named Ralph and Carolyn Cummins. They had five children, all born naturally, none by cesarean section. The first child was born in 1951, the second in 1953, the third in 1956, the fourth in 1961 and the fifth in 1966. There’s nothing miraculous about that. But the strange thing was that all five children were born on February 20th—not by caesarian section, but all five of them were naturally born on February 20th. Can you imagine their birthday? Now, that’s miraculous. The birth of Heather, physically, was a miracle. Heather was born from on high when she was five years old, but she was born physically 12 years ago. I’ve told you how she was, I believe, the third child born at Aurora Presbyterian Hospital. At that time, they didn’t have a fetal heart monitor. Heather was dying. At 10 o’clock on a Friday night a salesman comes by the hospital to try to sell the hospital a fetal heart monitor. They demonstrated on Barbara and Heather’s life was saved. That’s a miracle.
I read a story this last week that really is hard to believe. In fact, I’m relatively certain you’re not going to believe it. But allegedly, this is documented. It took place in the year 1863 in the Battle of Raymond in Mississippi. It was said that a soldier was shot by a bullet in the lower abdomen and the bullet passed through him and went into a nearby farmhouse and penetrated a 17 year old girl. 278 days later, the girl gave birth to an eight-pound boy. Now, this is reported in the American Medical Weekly. Allegedly, this man had never met the girl, and when the eight-pound boy was born, three weeks later, a doctor took a little bullet out of that little boy’s body. I don’t believe it either. But this man went back, supposedly, and met this gal and fell in love with her. They were married and had three more children. It is certainly miraculous if it is true, but you see, it doesn’t matter how strange physical births are. They’re all miraculous. Four children are born every second, and that’s a miracle. Every year, more than 100 million babies come into this world, and they’re all miracles. But physical birth can’t even begin to approach the miracle of spiritual birth. It pales by comparison because in physical birth we are born only to die. But in spiritual birth you are born and you never die. You are born and you live forever.
The apostle Peter wrote to Christians in Asia Minor and he said, “You have been born anew—ana gennao—not by perishable seed but imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.” All flesh is like grass; all of its glory is like the flower. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the Word of the Lord abides forever. And that Word is the good news that was preached to you. So Jesus says you must be born anew. “God loved the world so much He gave His only begotten Son that whose whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.” Rebirth requires belief. Belief is the consecration of your life to His lordship.
Well, secondly and finally, rebirth results in a transformed life. It requires belief, but it results in a life that is transformed. If a person is really reborn—really born from above—then the Bible says that their life moves from darkness to light. And the Bible says their behavior changes from evil to good. Make no mistake about this, a commitment to Christ and to His lordship is a commitment to change. It’s a commitment to transformation. In fact, Jesus said the reason that many people in this world will never be born again is simply because they don’t want to leave the darkness. Jesus said, “This is the judgment: light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than the light because their own deeds were evil.” He who does what is evil hates the light and does not come into the light, lest his deeds be exposed. Sometimes people say to me, “Well, if I become a Christian, am I going to need to change?” The answer is yes.
You know, I wish everybody would be a Christian. The Bible says God’s not willing or wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance. I wish I could make it easy, but I can’t. The truth is, a commitment to Jesus Christ and to His lordship is a commitment to change. It’s a commitment to transformation. And where people have truly responded to the gospel, transformation takes place.
In World War II, the United States and the Allied forces decided to bring an end to the war through a direct assault on Japan. They knew that in order to do this they would have to capture some nearby islands to use them as bases. So they focused on Iowa Jima and Okinawa. Okinawa was about 350 miles south of Japan. It was on Easter Sunday, April 1st, 1945, that the American and Allied forces arrived in Okinawa. The Japanese put up tremendous resistance. They fought to the death. Their kamikaze pilots sunk 36 American and Allied vessels and damaged 332 additional ships. In a 12 week period, 90% of the buildings in Okinawa were destroyed. During that same period of time, 49,000 American and Allied soldiers died and 109,000 Japanese men died. It was the last major land battle of the war.
But on June 21st, 1945, the Japanese surrendered. As the American soldiers poured over Okinawa, they came to village after village after village. Every village was filthy. Every village was dirty and primitive. The people in those villages, tragically, lived lives rooted in superstition. And understandably, the people who lived in those villages were filled with fear and hate. But eventually, the American forces came to a village on Okinawa called Shimabuku and had one of the most unusual experiences in the whole of World War II. American soldiers came to this village and it was different from every other village in Okinawa. It wasn’t filthy and it wasn’t dirty. All the homes were kept clean. Everyone cared for one another. People weren’t filled with fear and with hate, but they loved each other and they even had love for these American soldiers. And when the American soldiers arrived at this village, two men, older men, came out with hundreds of villagers behind them, and they said, “Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ.”
American military personnel didn’t know what to do. So they sent for the chaplain and he came with some members of military intelligence. They discovered that 30 years earlier, in 1915, a missionary had stopped by Okinawa on his way to Japan and had spent just two days in that village of Shimabuku. And in those two days, two men accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. They were born from on High. Their names were Shoshei Kina and his brother, Mojun Kina. The missionary had to leave and left a Bible with them. Those two men ultimately shared their faith in Jesus Christ with the entire village. 30 years later, every single member of the village had accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It was Shoshei Kina and Mojun Kina that greeted the military officers, the American soldiers, when they came in 1945. It was a miracle. The American military leaders couldn’t understand. They said they were fascinated how two men having accepted Christ and having a Bible could transform an entire village. Clarence Hall, the United States World War II correspondent, said, “Perhaps we are using the wrong weapons in making the world over.” But the truth is that wherever the gospel goes and people truly respond to the gospel, transformation takes place. Jesus Christ wants to make you over, and He wants to make me over.
He wants to change us. He said, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. All things have become new.” You see, if you are truly to be reborn, born from on high, you make a commitment to change—a commitment to being transformed into the very image of Christ. According to Gallup polls, as many as 90% of the people who live in America claim to be Christians. Almost 90% claim to be Christians. And at some points during the past 10 years, almost 50% of the American population claimed to be born again. It’s easy to say you’re a Christian. It’s easy to say you’re born from on high. But the true test is, is transformation taking place? Jesus said, “By their fruit you will know them. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”
See, a Christian isn’t perfect. We all know that. But a true Christian has made a commitment to change and transformation that begins at the moment of rebirth and continues through a process the Bible calls sanctification. So Jesus Christ says that you must be born anew. Unless a man is born anew, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Rebirth requires belief, commitment to His lordship. It results in a transformed life.
In conclusion, I’d like to share a little story about Ty Cobb. Ty Cobb was of course one of the greatest baseball players of all time. He was called the Georgia Peach. He was born in Banks County, Georgia. In 1905, he joined the Detroit Lions and he played for the lions for 22 years. He played for two years in Philadelphia. For 12 years, he led the American League in batting average. For four years, he batted over 400. His lifetime batting average was 367. He was admitted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936. He was great. He could not only bat, but he could also run. He stole 892 bases. He was a complete player.
He died June 17th, 1961, at the age of 75. He accepted Jesus Christ on his deathbed. There were witnesses. Seven people were in the room. He asked Jesus Christ to come into his heart. He asked Jesus Christ to be his Savior and Lord. He said to the people who were in the room, “Tell everybody that I wish I had become a Christian in the top of the first instead of the bottom of the ninth.” I don’t know what inning you think you’re in. You might feel like you’re in extra innings. But it’s a mistake to say, “I’m going to wait until the bottom of the ninth.” It’s a mistake because, first of all, you’ll miss out on all the joy of being a Christian in this life. Nothing is greater than being a Christian. Nothing’s more wonderful than having a life committed and consecrated to Jesus Christ. Nothing’s more wonderful than knowing that you are His and He is yours forever. Nothing’s more wonderful than knowing that He has you in His care. Nothing’s more wonderful than having His kingdom to live for forever.
It would also be a mistake to wait till the last half of the ninth because, you don’t know, the game might be called because of darkness. You might not make it to the ninth inning. It would also be a mistake because you don’t know what it’s going to be like for you when you’re in that ninth inning. The truth of the matter is that sometimes when we wait until the end of our lives, our hearts have become so hardened. Even though we say the words in our hearts, we no longer mean them.
The Bible says now is the day of salvation. So Jesus Christ—the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, the Lord of glory—invites you to open the door to your heart and truly receive Him as Savior and Lord. Be born from on high. Let Him transform you. Let’s close with a word of prayer.
Lord Jesus, You have given us a tremendous privilege in living physical life in this world. It’s just a joy and a blessing, Lord, to be able to live on this Earth and experience life day by day. But Lord, this joy pales compared with the joy of spiritual birth, the joy of knowing that we belong to You and have entered Your eternal family. Lord Jesus, You’ve promised that if anyone truly believes in You, if anyone truly would relinquish their heart to Your Lordship, You’d come into them. You’d live within them by Your Holy Spirit, You would be theirs and they Yours, and they would have You forever. Lord, perhaps there are people here today who have never been born from above, who have never invited You to come and be the Lord of their life and to save them from sin. Lord, today, if there are any such people, I pray that they would pray this prayer with me: “Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, come into my heart that I might be born anew, born from on high. Forgive me of my sin, Lord; only You can forgive. Lord, be my Lord. I want to live for You. I know I’m going to make mistakes, but Lord, I want to live for You. I commit my life to You. Help transform me by Your power. I want to be a Christian.” Thank you, Lord, that when someone prays that prayer, You do come in and You give eternal life. We love You. We pray these things in Your name. Amen.