“YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN!”

John 3:1-8                                         (ESV)

“1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, A RULER OF THE JEWS.

2 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."

3 JESUS answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of GOD."

4 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?"

5 JESUS answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the SPIRIT, he cannot enter the kingdom of GOD.

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the SPIRIT is spirit.

7 Do not marvel that I said to you, 'YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN.'

8 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." 

Ive often said that John 4:24 might ought to be the verse first memorized by children in Sunday School.  To understand that “GOD is SPIRIT, and those who worship HIM MUST worship in spirit and truth” is one of the most grossly ignored scriptures in the entire BIBLE!  We tend to resort back to the days before JESUS came to earth and bought our salvation through HIS Perfect Life and Sacrifice on Calvary, trying to fulfill some requirements that man has dictated?  

Nicodemus was a RULER OF THE JEWS, a man who was respected by most for his knowledge of the Scriptures, a man who was just and walked upright.  When he came to JESUS in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, he surely knew what Scripture stated about eternal life?  But JESUS had something about HIM that would “DRAW” all men unto HIM, and HE was drawing Nicodemus to HIMSELF!  Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were the ones that laid JESUS in a borrowed tomb following HIS crucifixion.  

So GOD had already began working on the heart of Nicodemus.  The HOLY SPIRIT was causing Nicodemus to have questions in his heart that only JESUS could answer.   "How can a man be born when he is old” sounds like a ludicrous question?  But to a natural man, even a leader of the Jews, the things of the SPIRIT do seem ludicrous, or “folly” as 1 Corinthians 2:14 says it.  Nicodemus was well versed in the Scriptures,  but his eyes had yet to be opened to understand the Spiritual matters that John 4:24 addresses.  

Until our eyes have been opened and we recognize and accept that we are not only physical being (born of water), but Spiritual beings as well, we will remain as Nicodemus was, unable to SEE the Spiritual things right before our eyes!  Until GOD reveals HIMSELF to us (much like HE did Saul in Acts 9:18), we are unable to SEE our lostness, therefore a need for a Savior!  We can’t know we need HIM until HE shows us how BAD we truly are.  “YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN” is a non-negotiable prerequisite to entering the Kingdom of GOD.  NO ONE will enter Heaven without being BORN AGAIN!!!