Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - Why Religion Can’t Save You: What Does ‘Born Again’ actually mean? Pt. II

Episode Date: March 31, 2026

What does it actually mean to be born again? In this episode, we dive deep into John 3 and Jesus' shocking conversation with Nicodemus — the most religious man in all of Israel — to unpack the biblical doctrine of regeneration and why it changes everything about how we understand salvation.We cover:Why religion is not enough to enter the kingdom of GodWhat Jesus meant by being "born of water and the Spirit" (John 3:5)The connection between Ezekiel 36 and the New Covenant promise of a new heartWhy the human heart — not your upbringing or circumstances — is your greatest problemThe difference between reformation and regenerationWhy salvation is a miracle, not a merit systemHow to know if you've truly been born againWhether you grew up in the church, have all the right answers, and still wonder if you truly know God — or you're just beginning to ask who Jesus really is — this conversation is for you.📖 Key Scriptures: John 3:1–8 | Ezekiel 36:24–27 | Titus 3:5 | Ephesians 2 | 2 Corinthians 5:17 | Jeremiah 17:9This episode is sponsored by The Master's University. To learn more about how you can invest in a college education devoted to Christ & Scripture, visit https://www.masters.edu📧 Subscribe to the Dial In newsletter for first access to restocks and devotionals: www.dialinministries.org

The person next to you is not your greatest problem. Your bad upbringing is not your greatest problem. Your bad father is not your greatest problem. Your own sinful heart is your greatest problem. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Now, sometimes we come to verses in the Bible and we're like, I don't really know what that means. Well, Jesus just said, unless you're born of the water and the spirit, you cannot see the kingdom of God, which means it's pretty important for us to understand because there's only one type of person in heaven,

someone who has been born of water in the spirit. So we need to understand. And in order to understand, we need to look back to the Old Testament, to the prophet Ezekiel. If you don't understand this, you've missed the gospel. Hank, how we doing? I'm doing great, Johnny. How are you? Good.

Hey, a couple things. We're going to do a restock of the theology fuels doxology shirts soon. It's actually huge because mine got dried and it shrunk. Stop. If you are interested in that, we send it out first through the people. subscribe to the newsletter so you can subscribe to the newsletter on dialin ministries.org. Those are the devotionals that go out multiple times a week and we'll give first access to people that are signed up there. Question for you though. Well before I ask you my question.

It does actually doesn't matter what you're going to ask me because I have a separate question for you. Okay. Well, this episode is brought to you by the Masters University. If you or someone you know is interested in pursuing higher education Masters University, that's where I went, committed to Christ in scripture, you can go check out more information at masters.edu and use code dial in to waive the application fee if you are interested highly recommend a hang question for you favorite movie of all time remember the titans separate question for you i'm curious to know your favorite movie probably the count of monte cristo okay we're going to circle back to that in this episode but what did you do last night i can't tell i went to a concert okay so well i went to stephen kirtz chapman

to see he did a speechless 25 year like reunion tour album and And that was my song, dude. I used to just be there, like, as an 11-year-old, just worshipping. Front row just hands up. Wow. Yeah. Well, no, I got to move on now. We're already two minutes in it.

People are like chop, chop, chop. Fire away. Well, first of all, along the theme of movies. There are eight different series in the Law and Order universe. This is a lot. Law and Order trial by jury. Law and Order Los Angeles. A lot needed there.

True crime. criminal intent, organized crime, law and order, just blank law and order, law and order special victims, law and order United Kingdom. In total, well, when I wrote this, there were 1,349 episodes across 65 seasons of television. See them all. Katie, maybe. There are five different series that make up the NCIS franchise, which is a totally different show I've discovered than Law and Order. Hence the different. Yeah.

N-CIS, regular. NCIS Los Angeles, NCIS New Orleans, turns out it's not New Orleans, NCIS Hawaii, NCIS Sydney, which accounts for 107 episodes across 46 different seasons. I can go on and on. But the most successful genre of television show in history contain cases. Crimes that needed to be solved, clues that need to be kind of put together, mysteries, and so forth, even as I mentioned, my favorite movie is Count of Monte Cristo. So, you know, my other, my favorite book would be crime and punishment, something that needs to kind of be figured out.

There's a case that needs to be solved. And I think there's something about it that is revelatory of the human heart. We kind of want to get to the bottom of things. And one thing that I want to just, I mention that because as we turn to the Gospels, these Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, they're not just a bunch of doctrinal facts given to us in some sort of like a, you know, memorize these verses. It's a story. And even Luke's gospel is written. And he writes, he's a Greek doctor. And he says, I want to give you an exact account regarding this person, Jesus Christ. And it's written almost in this investigative clue, mystery type of way that I think captivates the human imagination. And sometimes when we turn to the Bible, we're just going like, hey, we're going to be told, boop, boop, boop, boop. But this is, you like that? That was really nice. But this is a story that is captivating.

And John's Gospel that we're looking at in this episode is polemical, meaning he's making an argument. It's apologetical. He's providing reasoning and it's evangelistic. But it's all centered around this main question, who exactly is this person, Jesus Christ? And I just start there because I think sometimes when we're looking at the Bible, we don't really view it in the way that maybe people would have in the first century, the people engaging Jesus.

Who exactly is this man? Yeah. And your point is it's not only that way throughout the Gospels. It's easy for us to almost read them as like a disjointed set of stories if you've grown up in the church, like the felt board. And it's like, oh, yeah, I know this one. Especially your kids grow up thinking that way because you got like, this is my favorite story and this is my favorite story and this is my favorite story.

But they're all kind of combined revealing that main question you're getting at. And that's true in the book context. It's also true sometimes in the individual accounts. And I think we're diving back into something we began previously. Yeah. So last week, last episode, the people around Jesus are beginning to kind of question who Jesus is. He's obviously no ordinary man. and it says at the end of John chapter 2 that many people believed in Jesus and then it says

right after that but Jesus did not believe in them because he knows what is within the heart of every single man. This is really interesting. They saw his signs but they did not trust in him as Savior and Jesus himself knows what is within the heart and mind of every single individual and his omniscience which means that he knows everything is put on display for us in the following chapter in John chapter 3. And he's having this conversation. And we started this last week in our last episode and you can go back and listen to it. But he is talking with the poster boy of religion. His name is Nicodemus. He is a Pharisee and he comes up and he recognizes that Jesus is a teacher and a preacher and a prophet and a miracle worker. And yet he doesn't know God.

Nicodemus, as we examined, is the most powerful, prestigious, respected man in Israel. He was someone that would have memorized the Bible. He was generous with his wealth. He is as influential as you can get, and yet there's one big problem. He has no assurance regarding his standing before God. And when you are dripping in religion, and yet you recognize that your soul is a drought, as it relates to a real relationship with God, there is no angst like that. I mean, that is the peak of anxiety is knowing every single answer, but not knowing whether or not you actually know God, And interestingly, there are 6,000 Pharisees in the land of Israel at this time. And there's only one that comes to Jesus.

And he doesn't come at day, you know, during the day, but he comes, it says in John 3, at night. And his main question is we've kind of been al-yooping is who exactly is this man? And so Nicodemus, again, to separate ourselves from the Sunday school answer, a real man approaching Jesus with a real question. And yet, as we started to look at last week, Jesus dives right to the day. the heart of the manner. Yeah, and Nicodemus comes, and he's kind of his opening salutation is like, hey, a good teacher. We know that you must come from God for no one can do the signs that you do unless God is with him.

How is that? Boop-de-be-pop. Yeah, and Jesus responds, and he doesn't even really respond to what Nicodemus says. He responds in verse three as we looked at the last episode. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now, this is a shock to Nicodemus's system. Jesus' main point here is to shatter all religiosity as it relates to earning your way to God. And Jesus is wanting Nicodemus to know with absolute certainty that being religious never got a single person into the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus has a lot of religion, but he has no spiritual life. Nicodemus is a walking Bible, but he is a spiritual corpse. And Jesus is relaying this to him. And Nicodemus at this point is confused because he has a rich pedigree. of religiosity. He has the scripture memorized backwards and forwards. And Jesus says that doesn't matter as it relates to your standing before God. And what does this tell you? Well, it tells me that you cannot discern spiritual truths apart from supernatural power. And we're going to kind of continue on in this conversation. And we're kind of immersing ourselves. And I say this, you know, often when I preach,

that R. C. Sproles said to find the drama. And here's a lot of drama because if you have, If you ask the average person today, what is a Christian? Well, first of all, 64% of people in America say that they are a Christian. And if you said, what does it mean to be a Christian or how do you become a Christian? They would say, well, you pray a prayer and you acknowledge certain things about God. Believe in Jesus. You believe in Jesus. But James says that even the demons believe in Shutter, Satan believes.

Satan knows that he is a sinner. So again, what does it mean to be saved? Jesus is crystal clear here. means that you must be born again and no one is saved by knowing certain facts or praying certain prayers. He's going to explain in this section here that the Holy Spirit has to do something to you in order for you to inherit the kingdom of God. And I don't mean to, I don't want to be redundant, but just from the outset, again, we can't emphasize enough. If we're reading this text correctly, Nicodemus isn't someone who's unfamiliar with the truth of the gospel. In today's

context, this would be someone who's listening to all the right faith podcasts, who has a marked up Bible, who might be able to provide all the answers. Nine highlighters. The fastest one in the sword drill. Shout out to Sunday schools that still do sword drills. But it's that type of person. I still practice with Katie. Can still know the objective kind of statements of fact, but their heart is still far from

the Lord. Yeah. Or just, yeah, and it's not regenerate. And we're going to talk about what that even means. But I want to pick up in the text in John Shedbert 3, verse 5. Nicodemus is unsure of what Jesus is talking about in verse four. And then Jesus says in verse five, truly, truly I say to you,

unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Now, he just said in verse three, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And now he's doubling down, but he's using different terminology here in verse five. He says, truly, truly, I say to you,

unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Now, sometimes we come to verses in the Bible, and we're like, I don't really know what that means. Well, Jesus just said, unless you're born of the water in the spirit, you cannot see the kingdom of God, which means it's pretty important for us to understand because there's only one type of person in heaven, someone who has been born of water in the spirit. So we need to understand.

And in order to understand, we need to look back to the Old Testament, to the prophet Ezekiel. And Ezekiel is ministering during the Israelite Babylonian captivity. It's a dark time in Israel's history. They had played the harlot as it relates to their purity and devotion to God. but the book of Ezekiel contains new covenant promises and prophecies what God is going to do and the main thing that God says

that he is going to do in the new covenant is he is going to change people from the inside out now would you read Ezekiel 36 24 through 27 yeah absolutely to beginning verse 24 it says and I'll take you from the nations gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land then I will sprinkle clean water on you

and you will be clean I'll cleanse you from all your uncleanly and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within 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. And you will be careful to do my judgments. So two primary things here.

Jesus says you have to be born of the water. And then we'll talk about the spirit. But two things here. First of all, it brings us to the reality that Jesus is telling Nicodemus, you need to be cleansed. God says in Ezekiel 3625, I will sprinkle clean water. water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all of your filthiness and from all of your idols.

Water in the Old Testament is a picture of cleansing. And this is what we need. Jeremiah 338 says, God says, I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion. Now why do we need to be cleansed? And again, no one gets to heaven without being cleansed. Why do we need to be cleansed?

Because we are sinful. Now, the word sin, what does that even mean? Well, there are 15 or more words in Hebrew that are used in the Bible for sin. Seven of those are used quite prominently. It means to miss the mark, there's this idea of unrighteousness in the Old Testament, which means that is an absence of God's righteousness. There's this word transgress or transgression, which means to violate God's word. There's the word iniquity, which means that we fall short of God's holiness,

rebellion, we resist God's goodness, perversion, that we participate in things that God detest. And then there's this idea, we read it in Proverbs often, abomination. We do the things that God hates. Often we think of sin, though, so much in the realm of things that we do, stealing or lying or lusting. But God says, and Jesus says, often in the New Testament, these things, the real problems, the real problem is the human heart. And this is why Jeremiah says, 179 says the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. We sin because we are internally corrupted, not externally corrupted. The world thinks people sinned because they had rough upbringings or because of their, you know, their environment.

Yeah, but the Bible says that we sin because of who we are. We aren't sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners. This is not to say, and this is important just to back up for a moment, this is not to say that everybody sins to the degree, you know, to the max degree. but that by nature we are born in sin. Psalm 51 verse 5, in sin, did my mother conceive me? And when Jesus is telling the most righteous man in Israel that you need to be born of water,

he's saying, Nicodemus, even you, even you, and all of your religious pedigree and devotion and achievement and recognition, you have a massive sin problem and you need to be cleansed. And there's something that we really need to understand. It's not only our worst works and worst motives that need to be cleansed. It's our best works and best motives outside of Christ.

Why? Well, because Romans 8.8 says, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. This is very important to understand because, you know, I think about that, you know, people outside of Christ that try to earn their way to God or try to do a good deed. You know, at Christmas, you hear people that don't know the Lord that say, hey, it's time to give it back. Romans 8.8 says those who are outside of Jesus Christ, they cannot please God. And this, more on us in this in a moment. But not only do we need to be cleansed, but when Jesus says you have to be born in water and the spirit,

this idea of spirit means that we need to be renewed, transformed, even what you mentioned. It says in Ezekiel 36, 26, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit, there's the main idea there, within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. We see the same thing in Ezekiel 1119. I will give them one heart and put a new spirit within them. Why do you think that it says that we have to be born of the spirit? What does that bring to your mind?

Biblically, I start thinking back on cases where the spirit kind of enters the scene. I'm curious what you're driving at. But even before you go there, just an observation of hearing you articulate that really clearly just drives a stake in the heart of all semblance of legalism. I mean, it's just, it's an obvious point, but it's one that hearing you articulate so clearly, we're not sinners because we sin. Sin because we're sinners. Exactly. I mean, I don't want to derail us, but it's just it's a helpful recalibrating point. that needs to almost be slowed down and digested.

But your point is there's a water cleansing and then also- We need to be cleansed by the spirit. And I say this often, you know, and you've heard me say this a bunch, but if all we had in the gospel's was the removal of our sin, would we ever be able to stand before a holy God? The answer is no. Then we're in absence of something.

Yeah, it's not just that we need forgiven, we need something else and we need to be renewed. Now when Jesus says you have to be born of the Spirit and the Old Testament, the first time we're introduced to the Spirit that he's hovering over the surface of the waters and he brings life into something. And Jesus says here that you have to be born of the spirit

and that takes us back to Ezekiel, that God says, I'm going to give you a new heart. I'm going to take your heart of stone and I'm going to give you a heart of flesh, which means he is going to, same idea that we talked about in our last episode, that palingenesia, where Jesus says, I'm going to remake the heavens and the earth.

This is that same power that one day God is going to remake all things. He's going to have to remake our hearts. And this is the doctrine of rebirth. Now, understanding something fundamental is really important. Ephesians 2 says that we are born dead in our sins. All we do is sin. All we can do is sin because we are depraved.

And again, depraved doesn't mean that we sin as much as we possibly could. It just means at our core, we are born with the sin nature. Now, apart from rebirth, meaning that the Spirit of God takes our heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh, the person next to you is not your greatest problem. your bad upbringing is not your greatest problem, your bad father is not your greatest problem. Your own sinful heart is your greatest problem because we are born in sin

and those who are born in sin will remain in sin unless God comes and transforms them. Now, interestingly in Ezekiel, and some of this prophetic language is really important to understand, God is going to tell Ezekiel in the following chapter in Ezekiel 37 to go to a valley and he gives them this vision of dry, dead bones, just carcass, you know, like,

not even a carcass, just skeletons, right? When I think of that, I always go back to the elephant graveyard and lying. I literally was there. Yeah, come on. And you just think about all these bones. And God shows these eagles picture, and he says, this is the human heart. It's as dead as the valley of dry bones. And I'm going to have my spirit come in and bring these bones to life.

Now, I want to back up, and I know this is a little bit theological. But biblically speaking, outside of Christ, you're not like, the Bible says your bones you're not a sickly animal kind of falling behind the herd you're dead you're dead you're not most you're not like sick you're not like

I need a breather you're dead Ephesians 418 says that our hearts are hardened Romans 8 7 the mind governed by the flesh is hostile towards God 1st Corinthians 214 says the natural man cannot accept the things of the Lord they are foolishness to him Romans 617 says we're slaves of sin.

Ephesians 2 says we're dead in sin, that we're servants of Satan. This is our natural position. And what do, now just big idea here, and this is part of the reason why God is in Jesus Christ is making this clear to Nicodemus. If you don't understand this, you've missed the gospel. What do the dead need? New life. Yeah. A dead person doesn't need medicine.

They need a miracle. They need a miracle. They need a resurrection. Question for you, how much it do contribute to your physical birth? Nothing. Nothing. And this is the idea of our spiritual rebirth. This is the main point.

Watch the emphasis in Ezekiel 36. God says over and over again, I will give you a new heart. I will sprinkle clean water on you. I will cleanse you. I will. I will put my spirit on you. I will. I will. Five times you read that.

This is a work of God. Jeremiah 24-7. I will give them a new heart. to know me. You contribute as much to your spiritual resurrection as Lazarus contributed to his physical resurrection. This is the need to be washed and then to be regenerated, to be born again. So now back to John 3, and this is any thoughts before we move on to the next verse. Well, it's just striking me. I don't mean to disrupt us, but even we read Ephesians, who's that written by Paul? Paul is in some ways like the greatest example. He's actively opposing

Jesus from the position of a Pharisee. He knows all the answers. He's totally interrupted by Jesus on the road to Damascus. And just thinking through of like we need, we think of that, I think of that as a vision. Like, wow, what a miracle. And it's striking me in a new way. No, that miracle is of the intervention, yeah. Of the same order of magnitude of the miracle that Jesus worked in my own heart. That's what's necessary. And this is Part of the reason why, you know, growing up in the church, you know, we used to do baptisms like almost every Sunday night and you watch certain stories. And you're like, you know, you remember being there like 11 years old going like, I wish my testimony when he was there.

Like I got an MVP testimony. I'll never have a convict and I'm a pastor's kid. Biblical speaking, what is necessary for Nicodemus is the same thing that is necessary for the thief on the cross. And that is to be born again, to have a miracle of God for the spirit of God. God to take a heart of stone and transform it into a heart of flesh. And we minimize the miracle that is necessary when we depreciate our condition outside of Christ. We're not mostly alive. We're spiritually dead. And Jesus continues in John 3, 6 by saying, that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. What does he mean when he says that which is born

of the flesh is flesh? Well, he's just meaning that there is no automatic Christians. You mean, if you're born in the flesh, who's born in the flesh, every single person ever? And he says, they are in the flesh. That's who they are. This is why Jeremiah 13 says, can an Ethiopian change a skin? Can a leopard change of spots? What's the answer? No.

No, they are who they are. And Jesus is telling Nicodemus, listen, by nature, you are born in the flesh. You cannot change your, you cannot change, like, your skin, a leopard can't change the spots. this is so critical for you to understand because he's wanting Nicodemus to understand that you don't need some sort of reformation, you need regeneration, you don't need to turn over a new leaf of your life.

You need new life. You don't need a new start. You need a new heart. And I think sometimes people even have this idea that I wish I could go back, if I could go back, outside of Christ, you could have 1,000 restarts to life. And apart from the intervening grace of God by which he gives you a new heart,

none of those lives would earn you your way to God because it's a miracle. It's not a merit-based system. Now, one thing regarding this, all that is flesh is flesh and all that the flesh produces is more flesh. One thing I want to say, and I want you to jump in here because I think it's important for us to understand. Sometimes we acknowledge that we are saved by grace and we're not saved by works because we kind of think that God does not accept the works that we do outside of Christ.

But it's not because God doesn't accept our works. it's because we have actually no good works outside of Christ, meaning all of our charitable deeds, or whatever they may be, are not actually honoring to God unless we are in Christ. And we kind of make it like, oh, God doesn't accept this currency. Yeah. We're not trading like, oh, God's denominated in pesos and we have dollars. Your point would be we're completely bankrupt.

We're bankrupt. And this is what God, Jesus, you know, who is God wants Nicodemus to understand. you have nothing to offer here. You have nothing to offer here. I like the Heidelberg Catechism. That's a series of questions and answers that were initially published to help families and young children

understand theology and it was initially published in 1563. And there's this question. And it's, but are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and inclined to do all evil? And the answer comes, children would respond. Yes.

Unless we are regenerated by the spirit of God. Now, hold on for a second. We've been talking about, you know, Jesus is talking to the most religious person in the world, the teacher of Israel, most prominent guy there is, and Jesus is just lambasted to the guy. You do nothing. If I'm Nicodemus at this point,

I'm incredibly discouraged by the conversation. Or if I'm reading this in absence of knowing Nicodemus' story, if I'm just listening to you, talk through it, I'm feeling smaller and smaller in my chair. And the goal of the scripture is, bingo, I hope you're discouraged. And Jesus is trying to discourage Nicodemus, right? From what?

Well, he's encouraging him to abandon the idea altogether that any ounce of our religiosity merits us a single drop of the grace of God. That this is nothing short of a miracle. And then he continues in verse 7. He says, do not be amazed that I said to you, you must be born again. Nicodemus, I just imagine him sitting there and going like us.

like what do you mean yeah and he says do not be amazed at this you must be born again verse 8 the wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it but do not know where it comes from or where it is going so is everyone who is born of the spirit he Jesus often draws these parallels with nature and he says do not be amazed he says the wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going now what what's he talking about well Two things here. The wind is invisible. And secondly, the wind is sovereign. Now, have you ever seen the wind uproot trees? You're like, you can see like a hurricane or tornado. A tornado like every other. Yeah, every other. Yeah. It would take 20 men to push over one of those trees. Yeah, but you have these massive winds that come through. They bend over trees. It destroys everything in its path. Can you see the wind? No, you can't see the wind. But you see the effects of it. You see the dust. You see the debris. You see the brandy. You see the brandy. You see the just swaying in the wind. It's indisputable.

Yeah, and it makes that which seems so powerful bow down. And the same thing is true of the sovereignty of God, the spirit of God. You cannot see it, but it makes that which is proud bowed down. You don't see, now do I see God go in and change your heart of stone into a heart of flesh? No. No. But I see the effects of it. Secondly, regarding the wind, the wind is so sovereign.

You can't harness it. No one can harness the wind. You cannot grasp it, so to speak. And this is something that only God can do. Who else can change a heart? Only God. This is why even when the disciples, they see Jesus as hush, be still, they respond and say, who then is this?

That even the what? Wins. Obey him. And the seas obey him. Who else can harness this? Well, only God. Who else can change a heart of stone into a heart of flesh? Only God.

And this is the whole point. Now, we're going to continue. and probably wrap up the conversation in the next episode. And I want to talk about the intersection of our response to the gospel. And there is a confluence here, and you know that's my favorite word, that in the same book and the same chapter and the same conversation, Jesus is going to talk about two realities. First of all, you bring nothing to the table.

And what is necessary for you to inherit the kingdom of God is a miracle has to happen to you. You must be born again. Now, there were books written 30 years ago. 10 steps to being born again. But all of those steps, that book, idea, and the title itself present to you, kind of an idea

that is unbiblical in the sense. Well, that'd be like telling a baby that doesn't yet exist. 10 steps to be born. No, no, no. Well, I contribute nothing to this. This is all a miracle of God. And if you think that you contribute something to your salvation,

if you think you contribute something to your birth, you're like Nicodemus, in verse four, I don't understand. You're confused. To jump in here, I just, it strikes me. There's probably a group of listeners that would be listening to this that would maybe think, like, but I'm actually not that bad. Like there, I've had conversations with people in the church who would identify as Christians,

who would almost say, like, well, yeah, but Johnny, like, be real. We, we do sin to various extents. And I don't know if I'm actually, like when I look myself in the mirror, I actually see a bunch of good things. What would you, how would you, I don't want to detract us too much, but briefly, how would you answer that person? I would say so did Nicodemus, right? And what Jesus is telling Nicodemus here, and I'm not saying anybody that asked that is an unbeliever, but he's telling Nicodemus, you're not yet in the kingdom. And unless you acknowledge that salvation is a miracle of God, biblically speaking, you don't understand the gospel.

And this is why I think Titus 3-5 is so important. And I mentioned this last week when we were kind of talking about that idea of regeneration, that he saved us, Titus 3-5, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness. That's a big idea. But according to his mercy, so we understand that we affirm his mercy. It says by the washing, there's that water of regeneration, of regeneration, and then the renewing by the Holy Spirit. That's a miracle.

God took your heart of stone. You were born with the heart of stone. And he transformed it into a heart of flesh. Now, just a couple of caveats. We cannot separate the Spirit of God from the Word of God. How does this happen? Well, it's something that we have to be born from above, anoth in the Greek.

But James 118 says that he brought us forth by the Word of Truth. It is the seed of the Word of God that is implanted into our hearts that God uses to produce new birth. Secondly, God also does use human instruments to produce this new birth. But as a pastor, one of the things that I'm so thankful for is that all of the transformation that takes place is reliant upon a miracle of God.

It's not reliant upon my gifting. But the question would be, well, aren't we called the place our faith in Jesus Christ? Aren't we called to share Christ with people? If it's all a miracle of God, then I don't have to do anything. Then I don't have to do anything because I'm just kind of waiting on God, let go, let God. And we're going to answer that next week. But until then, I want to just ask the question. And, you know, I want this to become a normal part of my just vernacular.

Have you listening, watching, been born again? I'm not asking if you've prayed a prayer. I'm not asking if your family is religious. I'm not asking even if you serve. You know, Jesus is asking the most religious man in Israel. Unless someone is born again, unless someone is born of the water and the spirit, you will not see the kingdom of God. Has the spirit of God cleansed you and has he transformed you

so that you can say yes and amen to 2 Corinthians 517? If anyone is in Christ, he is a new what? Creation. I didn't just turn over a new page. God transformed my heart. And as an evidence of that, it says in Ezekiel 36, I have new affections, new longings, new desires. It doesn't mean we don't battle sin.

doesn't mean the flesh isn't real, but it means that we've been the recipients of a miracle of God. Well, and that's such an important add to encourage folks of in the same way that you didn't bring anything to your salvation. When you place your faith in Jesus, you can have total confidence, trust, and peace in that he who began the good work in you is going to bring it to completion. And it's actually, you can rest assured in his loving care on that reality. Yeah, and just I think finally, if you're struggling, how do I know if I've been born again? How do I know if I'm one of those who will be born again? It's really easy. And this is what we'll look at next week if you come to Jesus Christ in faith.

Right? So how do I know if I'm born again if you receive Jesus Christ and come to him, as you said? So thanks, Hank. We'll pick it up here. Absolutely. Looking forward to it, Jenny.