You Must Be Born Again - Part 2

John 3:1-8
May 8, 2022
Abraham Hong

Sermon Script

In today’s passage, our Lord Jesus Christ graciously and lovingly taught Nicodemus about true salvation. Let us remember and review what we learned last Sunday.

Nicodemus didn’t get it. He thought that he deserved to enter the kingdom of God. He believed that he was good and righteous. But he was wrong. He was not good and righteous. He was sinful and self-righteous. He did not deserve to enter the kingdom of God. He deserved eternal punishment in hell. He was not spiritually alive. He was spiritually dead in his sin.

So then what did Nicodemus need? He needed to be born again. He needed to be born of water; he needed to be cleansed of his sin. He needed to be born of the Spirit; he needed to have the Holy Spirit dwell in him. And all of this could only happen by the sovereign grace of God.

Nicodemus needed to be born again. He needed to be made a new creation. He needed to be saved from his sin. He needed true salvation.

And praise be to our Lord. At the end of the book of John, there is good evidence that Nicodemus did indeed receive God’s gracious gift of being born again.

Brothers and sisters, would you like to know more about your spiritual birthday? I hope so. The subject matter of being born again should be of great interest to any believer in Christ. Just as a child would ask “Where did I come from” or “How did I come into existence,” a child of God should ask with humble thankfulness “Where did my repentance and faith come from” or “How did I come to be born again and made into a new creation?”

Well, I am happy to tell you more today about your spiritual birth and what it actually looks like to be born again. I will be simple and brief.

So there is both mystery and order to you being born again. There is both wondrous mystery and beautiful order to you being saved.

So this is what happens to you when you are born again. Or to be more precise, this is what happened to you when you were born again.

God called you. No, he did not get on his phone and call your phone. That’s not what the word “call” means here.

According to God’s word that is the Bible, God called you in the sense that the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Triune God, used the Bible to enlighten your mind spiritually and savingly. He changed your brain. He renewed the way that you think.

In other words, he took you when you were spiritual dead and he made you spiritually alive so that you could repent of your sins and believe in Jesus. You were first born of the flesh. You were first dead in your sin. But now you have been born of the Holy Spirit and now you have been made alive in Christ.

Praise be to our God. This is God’s calling. This is amazing.

And we call it God’s effectual calling. Because God’s calling produces life. The Holy Spirit’s work has effect on sinners who are spiritually dead and unable to save themselves. This is amazing.

After this happened to you, you received faith and repentance. You began to understand the things of God. You began to understand the Bible. You began to understand sermons and Bible studies at church. You began to understand the bad news about yourself and how you were a sinner before Jesus. And you began to understand the saving truth and the good news of Jesus. So this is God’s calling. This is what it means to be born of the Spirit. This is what being born again looks like.

But when God called you, he didn’t just do something to your mind. He also did something to your heart and your will.

According to God’s word that is the Bible, God called you in the sense that the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Triune God, used the Bible and took away your heart of stone and gave you a heart of flesh and he also renewed your will spiritually and savingly. He replaced your old heart with a new heart. He changed your will.

In other words, he took you when you were spiritual dead and he made you spiritually alive so that you could repent of your sins and believe in Jesus. You were first born of the flesh. You were first dead in your sin. But now you have been born of the Holy Spirit and now you have been made alive in Christ.

Praise be to our God. This is God’s calling. This is amazing.

And we call it God’s effectual calling. Because God’s calling produces life. The Holy Spirit’s work has effect on sinners who are spiritually dead and unable to save themselves. This is amazing.

After this happened to you, you received faith and repentance. You began to desire the things of God and you began to do God’s will. You began to want to read the Bible and you began to obey God’s word and do good works and be holy and righteous. You began to have love for the Lord Jesus Christ and you began to live for him and worship and serve him. And you began to have brokenheartedness and godly sorrow because of your sins against Jesus. And you began to resist temptation and put off the old and put to death your sinfulness.

So this is God’s calling. God’s effectual calling.

The Holy Spirit took you when you were spiritual dead and he made you spiritually alive so that you could repent of your sins and believe in Jesus.

You were first born of the flesh and you were first dead in your sin. But now you have been born of the Holy Spirit and now you have been made alive in Christ.

This is what it means to be born of the Spirit. This is what being born again looks like.

There is so much more that comes with your salvation. There’s justification. There’s adoption. There’s sanctification. There’s so much content and blessings to your salvation.

But during your life on this earth, it all starts with being born again. You enter the kingdom of God during your time on this old and fading earth by first being born again.

There are a few important applications for your life as a result of learning about the good news of being born again. Three applications.

First, there must be humility. God is the one who started your salvation, not you. God is the one who initiated your salvation and made it happen, not you. “Where did my repentance and faith come from?” It came from God. From God first. And from God alone. “How did I come to be born again and made into a new creation?” By God. By God first. And by God alone. In other words, you being born again wasn’t your idea, you weren’t in control when it happened, and you were not born again because you first believed in Jesus or because you first loved him. Remember Jesus’ words: “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.” You must be alive before you can believe. Let us therefore be humble. Salvation belongs to our God.

Second, there must be assurance. Many believers tend to worry and lack assurance about the process of how they became saved. They worry and they lack assurance because they think that the process of how they became saved was their work. But it wasn’t. It was the Holy Spirit’s work. Your repentance and your faith did not ultimately come from you. It all came from God. Many believers also tend to worry and lack assurance because they don’t remember there being an actual day or moment in their life when they clearly noticed being born again. Believers have a set calendar day for their biological birthday. And believers can have a set calendar day for when they repented and believed in Jesus and another set calendar day for when they got baptized. But believers do not know and cannot know the exact day or moment in their life when God called them. And that’s absolutely okay. So don’t worry about it. Again, remember Jesus’ words: “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.” Your process of being born again was all in the hands of God. Let us therefore have assurance. Salvation belongs to our God.

Third and finally, there must be joy. There is so much joy when a baby is born. There ought to be at least equal joy, if not more joy, because you are born again. You have been cleansed of your sin because of Jesus. You have been indwelt with the Holy Spirit. You were made into a new creation in Christ. You have been given entrance into the kingdom of God. Let us therefore have joy. Salvation belongs to our God.

Soli Deo Gloria