Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - Dial In - John 3:1-13 (Ep. 06)

Episode Date: April 6, 2020

Dial In is a devotional series with the intention of helping followers of Christ understand God’s word and love Him more. Jonny seeks to communicate the profound depth of scripture in a digestible and condensed format each weekday. The goal of the podcast is that our “minds would be renewed” as we behold who God is in His word. In this series, Jonny is walking sequentially through the Gospel of John.In this episode, Jonny covers John 3:1-13 and discusses the need to be born again and the work of regeneration. Watch VideosVisit the Website Follow on InstagramFollow on Twitter

Hey guys, my name is Johnny Artavanis, and this is Dial In. Today we're going to be looking at one of the most theologically rich passages in all of the Bible. And I don't know how you can then such amazing and profound truth, but I'm going to try. Our passage is John chapter 3, verses 1 through 13, and I've said it before, whenever we open up God's Word, we need to view it as the very words of God himself and dial in. A 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 of the flesh is flesh, and 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, So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. 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. Okay, so at the end of chapter two, we see that Jesus did not entrust himself to any man because he already knows what is within man. He doesn't need anybody to testify about what someone is doing or thinking because he knows all things. He is omniscient. He knows everything going on in human history, and he knows every single person better than they know themselves. And we're going to see this play out the next two chapters

as Jesus has two conversations with people on opposite sides of the spectrum. Here in chapter 3 with the most religious, prestigious man in all of Israel, and in chapter 4 with a Pharisee named Nicodemus. But let's get some context first. So Nicodemus is a Pharisee and probably one of the wealthiest men in all of Jerusalem. They were the most devoted scholars of the Old Testament and to Jewish tradition in all of the land of Israel. We see this type of character played out in Luke 18,

one of my favorite teachings of Jesus. But Nicodemus is not just a Pharisee. He's the Pharisee. All Pharisees were teachers, but Jesus refers to him as the teacher of Israel, which means that he was one of the most prominent, popular, and powerful men in the whole nation. He seems to have a lot going for him,

but he comes to Jesus in the cloak of night and perceptibly has a lot on his mind. So he comes respectfully and earnestly to Jesus and calls him rabbi, which means teacher. And he says, we know that you come from God because everyone sees the signs that you are performing. Jesus doesn't really respond to this initial introduction and gets right to the heart of the matter in verse 3, which brings us to our point in today's episode, and that is the need to be born again. Jesus says, unless one is born again, he will not enter the kingdom of God.

Now, whenever we hear or see the word unless in the scripture, we really, really need to dial in because it precludes a necessary condition. Unless there is gas in the car, car will not start unless you take this medicine you will not get healthy and jesus is saying mark this carefully in nicodemus listen here unless one is born again he will not enter the kingdom of god and the response of Nicodemus is, huh? What do you mean? Am I supposed to get back into my mother's womb and be born all over again? And then Jesus responds with another necessary condition. Unless one is born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And then Jesus continues and says, all that is of the flesh is flesh and all that which

is of the spirit is spirit. What is Jesus saying? In order to understand what Jesus is really communicating here to Nicodemus, we have to look to the Old Testament to more clearly understand Jesus's reference to water, the spirit, and rebirth. And we look to the book of Ezekiel in chapter 36, specifically in verse 25 is where we'll start. Verse 25 of Ezekiel 36 says, I will sprinkle clean water on you. This is God talking and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols. I will cleanse 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. Okay, so Jesus said we need to be born again

and we need to be born of the water and of the spirit. And here in this Old Testament prophecy, we see that this refers to the need to be cleansed. God says in Ezekiel, I will cleanse you with water and I will take out your dead heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh through the power of my spirit. Water in the Old Testament, and we talked about this in chapter 2, was a purifying agent. So what Jesus is saying is that we need to be purified from our sin.

We need a total cleansing from our sin in order to enter the kingdom of God. This is the cleansing that David cries out for in Psalm 51 when he says, purge me, O God, clean me from my sin. But not only do we need to be purified from our sin, it says that we need to be made alive. The passage says that we have hearts of stone. What do you think that means? It means that we are spiritually dead. And then Jesus says, all that the flesh can produce is what? More flesh. He's telling Nicodemus what God's word reveals to us today. You are flesh. You are a man. Everyone born of Adam, they are sinful. And because of Adam's sin, you are born into sin. That is what we see in Romans 5 and Romans 6. Adam's sin ushered in sin for the whole world.

And because of that, Nicodemus, you have an inability to cleanse or to save yourself. You are not just broken, Nicodemus. You are spiritually dead. Don't you understand? You are who you are and no attendance, no degree, no biblical memorization, no familial connection or posturing, piety or devotion can save you. Jesus would have communicated Isaiah 64, 6 at this point. Don't you get it, Nicodemus? You know this passage. All of your righteous deeds are like filthy rags. You're included in this lot, Nicodemus. Romans 3,

there is no one who seeks God. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Isaiah 53, all of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has gone his own way. And Jesus is highlighting this to Nicodemus. You cannot earn your salvation. You cannot change who you are. You are spiritually dead and you need to be made alive. Jeremiah 13 references a tremendous reality saying, Can an Ethiopian change his skin? Can a leopard change his spots? And Jesus is saying, Neither can someone who is spiritually dead make themselves spiritually alive. And Jesus is saying, And this is what we see Paul say in Galatians 3.22,

that the law was given so that we would feel trapped in our sin, like a fish caught in a net with nowhere to go. That was the purpose of the law, not so that we could earn our salvation by keeping it, but so that we would realize that we could never keep it perfectly and that we ultimately needed a savior. There is no such thing Jesus is saying to Nicodemus as someone who is born into the kingdom of God and no Christian school, no Christian family, no Christian behavior provides an exception. Nicodemus, listen, he's

saying it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for you to save yourself. You need to be born again. You need to be born again. What Jesus is saying, God has to do a miracle in your life. Like we saw in Ezekiel 36, God has to take our heart of stone and transform that into a heart of flesh. He takes our dead heart, even as we see that in Ephesians 2, in our trespasses and sins. And then Ephesians 2, 5, he makes us alive because he produces a miracle in our life. And there is nothing that we contribute to that transformation. A miracle of God has to take place in order for us to be a child of God. And the whole point of this text is that something must happen to you that you do not participate in. Jesus saying to Nicodemus, as you played absolutely no role in your physical birth,

you also play no role in your physical birth. You also play no role in your spiritual birth. I like what one pastor says, the kingdom of God is only open to those who know it is 100% a divine miracle and forfeit all efforts to participate. Being born again is entirely a work of God. There is no achievement-based salvation method. There is no achievement-based salvation method. There is no how-to program to be saved. God has to do a miracle in our life. Notice the language once again in Ezekiel 36. God says, I will sprinkle clean water on you,

and you will be clean. I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart. I will remove the heart of stone. I will put my spirit within you. I will cause you a new heart. I will remove the heart of stone. I will put my spirit within you. I will cause you to walk in my statutes. I will, I will, I will, I will. This is entirely a miraculous work of God. Here in John chapter 3, we see that Jesus looks at Nicodemus and answers his question regarding the requirement to enter the kingdom of God.

And Jesus clearly says, the requirement for entry into the kingdom of God is a miracle of God. You have to be born again, Nicodemus. And no amount of achievement, no amount of education or attendance can accomplish that for you. It is purely and entirely a miracle of God. Have you been born again? Has God cleansed you with water and the Spirit? And has He done a miracle in your life? I pray so. Stay dialed in.