John 3: Nicodemus and the Miracle of the New Birth

Introduction

This Sunday is the one closest to October 31, the day Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg. Tom Foord, at Hope Reformed Baptist Church, reminds us that what began as a debate among theologians became an awakening in people's souls, and then a movement that crossed Europe and the Channel: the Reformation, the rediscovery of the gospel as Scripture teaches it.

The preacher continues his series in the Gospel of John. From chapter 2 to chapter 4, one theme unfolds: the newness Jesus brings. There were the purification jars filled with new wine, then the new and better temple, which is his body. Today it is birth of the flesh set against the new birth that Jesus alone brings.

His central idea is simple: "To be saved is to be a born-again Christian." Not a Christian by culture, by name, or by census, but someone who has been changed inside by the Holy Spirit. Being a believer, he says, is the result of a miracle from heaven. He follows the text of John 3:1-8 in five movements: the characters, the claim, the confusion, the clarification, and the conclusion.

Sermon Outline

1. The Characters: Nicodemus and Jesus

The name Nicodemus comes from Greek and means "victory of the people." He is a deeply religious man, trained from childhood, probably the best student in the synagogue where he grew up.
He is "a ruler of the Jews," so a member of the Sanhedrin: seventy members and a president, the political, legal, and theological elite of Israel. The preacher compares it to a supreme court, set up like the ones in Washington or Canberra.
He is a Pharisee: he holds the oral tradition of the rabbis to be binding, those laws added by the fathers that Jesus constantly criticized, because legalism had smothered the spirit of God's law.
He is also an older man. An old teacher comes to question a young traveling preacher who draws crowds, which gives the scene its edge.
Nicodemus was already behind the scenes in chapter 1: the Jerusalem authority that sent delegates to ask John the Baptist "Who are you?" counted him among its members. He reappears in chapter 7, where he defends Jesus and is mocked ("Are you also from Galilee?"), and then in chapter 19, where he helps bury Jesus with Joseph of Arimathea.
Facing him is Jesus, the Word made flesh, the light and life come into the world. To those in power, he is a public nuisance: only a few days earlier, perhaps, he overturned the tables in the temple and drove out the merchants with a whip.
The Sanhedrin's dilemma: they cannot simply say, "Ignore this man, he comes from the devil or he is paid by the Romans," since Nicodemus admits that his works show he probably comes from God. How can someone be from God and against the leaders?

2. The Night, the Miracles, and the Right Reflex

Nicodemus comes "by night." The detail may set the scene: lamps, empty corridors, a few disciples, a question asked in secret. It may also be symbolic, because in John light and darkness carry spiritual meaning: "But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn't in him" (John 11:10). The light of the world stands in front of Nicodemus, but it is not in him.
He calls Jesus "Rabbi." From a Galilean disciple, that is a normal sign of respect. From the most authoritative teacher in the land, it is as if a tenured professor from Oxford or Yale called you over and said, "Hello, professor, I would like your opinion." Does he believe, or has he come to assess Jesus?
At the end of chapter 2, many believed when they saw his miracles, but Jesus did not entrust himself to them, because he knew what was in man (John 2:23-25). Nicodemus, at least, takes the next step: he comes to ask his questions.
This is the right reflex when facing miracles: does Scripture announce this kind of miracle, and does the teaching of the one who performs them agree with it? The preacher warns against online "apostles" to whom people send 100 dollars on a promise of a refund: "That is stupid and dangerous."
"Miracles prove nothing, except that there is something you do not understand and that a spiritual world exists." They do not tell you whether a person, a church, or a denomination is on the side of the light.
He tells the story of the reformer William Farel in Switzerland, in the sixteenth century. Lights floated at night above a cemetery, presented as the souls of the dead, a sign not to listen to "the heretic." Farel and a companion waited in the field and discovered clergymen fixing candles onto crayfish pulled from the river.

3. The Claim: You Must Be Born Again to See

Nicodemus does not really ask a question, he expresses his perplexity: you seem to come from God, but I cannot connect the dots, I feel blind. Jesus answers that implied question: "unless one is born anew, he can't see God's Kingdom" (John 3:3).
Of course you are blind, Nicodemus, professional theologian: the Spirit has not caused you to be born again. All your other titles become irrelevant next to the question: do you understand Jesus Christ, and do you believe in him?
Jesus turns the situation around. Nicodemus came to evaluate him; it is Jesus who evaluates Nicodemus. How can you judge who may inherit the kingdom when you are not in it yourself?
"The Word became flesh and lived among us" (John 1:14). Nicodemus saw the flesh, but he could not see the Word. Partially blind means completely blind.
God did not make a world that is only material, or only angelic, but a material world filled with heavenly realities. You can approach Christianity with psychological or historical questions, and even embrace the Christian values that built our civilization, without having entered the kingdom spiritually. You remain a moralist.
The preacher speaks to four listeners: the critic, offended by this word; the moralist, who asks for one more thing to do; the sinner, who has no desire for it ("I'll go listen to AC/DC with my friends in hell"); and the skeptic, who waits for proof at the back of the room. For all of them, an inner re-creation is needed that only God can accomplish.

4. The Confusion: A Kingdom Understood Literally

"How can a man be born when he is old?" (John 3:4). Nicodemus takes the words literally, because he has an entirely material idea of the kingdom.
The preacher imagines the scene as Nicodemus might have pictured it: at the gate of the kingdom, you would have to present three documents, a certificate of Israelite descent, a certificate of circumcision, and now a certificate of new birth.
The kingdom of God is first of all the fact that God is king: he reigns sovereignly over everything, from creation to eternity, in heaven as in hell. "So it is not a party with your friends."
The prophets also announced a coming kingdom under a descendant of David: glory, peace, restoration, salvation, redemption, forgiveness. The tradition Nicodemus taught held that all Jews would enter it, except for complete apostasy. And Nicodemus no doubt saw himself closer to Abraham than to Samson.
Being Jewish, being a teacher, knowing the book, obeying parts of the law while breaking others: none of this gets anyone into the kingdom.
Each person reacts in their own way. The critic: "Accept me as I am, or you are intolerant." The moralist: "Tell me what I can do." The skeptic: "This sounds like a religious scam." Jesus is not mistaken and does not contradict God: he corrects Nicodemus.

5. The Clarification: Born of Water and Spirit

"Unless one is born of water and spirit, he can't enter into God's Kingdom" (John 3:5). Jesus does not say: if only you were a little better, more disciplined, more involved at church, more generous. "That is a lie from the pit of hell." Nothing you do makes you more acceptable to God.
Being born of water and Spirit is not a second step: it is the same thing as being born again, explained. The preacher suggests circling these words in your notes and linking them to verse 3.
He uses the picture of a doctor who announces: "You won't make it to Christmas." The patient asks what he can do. The answer: a new heart, a new hip, a new stomach, liver, kidneys, brain, eyes, skeleton, and skin. It is not about trimming your nails or changing your diet: everything has to be re-created.
"You may have wondered what is wrong with you. The answer nobody had the courage to give you is: everything." Spiritually, from head to toe, everything is affected, and that is true of each one of us.
Religions either try to bring about this transformation themselves (reincarnation, cycles of teaching, pilgrimages, anointings), or deny that it is necessary, which is the message of many self-help books. Jesus says the opposite.
It is not an impossible thing, it is a human impossibility. There is a spiritual physician able to repair everything, through the Holy Spirit.
Jesus sends Nicodemus back to the prophets he knew. In Ezekiel 36, God promises clean water, a new heart, and his Spirit within his people. In Jeremiah 31, he promises to write his law on their hearts and no longer remember their sins, which the letter to the Hebrews (chapter 8) says is fulfilled in Jesus.

6. The Picture of the Wind: The Sovereign Work of the Spirit

"The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don't know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8). The new birth is entirely the sovereign work of God.
You cannot see what happens inside a soul. Whether someone waves a jacket or someone falls to the ground, nothing allows you to say, "The Spirit is coming down here." Someone is crying? Maybe their cat just died. Someone seems lost in thought? They are thinking about yesterday's game.
What you see are the leaves and branches moving: a life that changes radically. As Ezekiel announced, the person stops worshiping idols, stops worshiping themselves, and begins to walk in God's ways.
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John 3:6): the flesh sees only flesh. Born of the Spirit, you see Jesus. To be born of the Spirit is for your heart to look to the death of Jesus on the cross and to his resurrection, and to believe that your salvation is there, and nowhere else.

7. The Conclusion: An Invitation and a Reason to Be a Christian

If you are not a Christian, whether you know it or you think you are, you need the most radical miracle imaginable: to be re-created and cleansed from the inside. "The solution is not in you, the problem is in you."
The good news: you have a God who alone can perform this miracle and who wants to do it for you. Jesus does not tell Nicodemus, "Step back," he invites him: come, be changed, be cleansed, be renewed.
The preacher offers a prayer: "Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. Lord, do what I cannot do and give me a new heart."
To Christians, he asks: why are you a Christian? The answer is often a Christian family, a tract you received, or the historical reliability of the New Testament. At bottom, there is only one reason: "When I was dead, the Spirit of God made me alive." Like branches in the wind, we did not decide to move.
If the spiritual life begins by the Spirit, it continues by the Spirit: "Having begun in the Spirit, are you now completed in the flesh?" (Galatians 3:3). If you lack strength, peace, and joy, perhaps you are struggling in the flesh instead of leaning on the Son of God who loved you and gave himself for you.

Key Takeaways

Being a Christian is not a cultural or religious label: it is being born again by the Holy Spirit.
Miracles prove that a spiritual world exists, not that a teaching comes from God. Everything is tested by the light of Scripture.
Neither religion, nor knowledge, nor effort gets anyone into the kingdom. Spiritually, everything in us needs to be re-created.
To be born of water and Spirit is to receive the new heart and the Spirit promised by Ezekiel and Jeremiah, a sovereign work of God, like the wind.
Jesus invites everyone to come and be renewed, and the Christian life continues the way it began: by the Spirit.

Personal Application

If someone asked you why you are a Christian, what would you answer: your upbringing, your convictions, or the work of the Spirit who made you alive?
Which of the four profiles do you recognize yourself in most today: the critic, the moralist, the sinner, or the skeptic?
How do you react to stories of miracles: do you compare them with what Scripture says before believing them?
Which "if only I were a little better" do you need to let go of, so you can rest in what Jesus accomplished on the cross?
In which area of your life are you trying to finish in the flesh what began by the Spirit?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "born again" mean in John 3?

For Tom Foord, to be born again is to be changed inwardly and spiritually by the Holy Spirit. It is not a cultural label, a baptism received as a child, or a religious affiliation: it is a miracle sent from heaven. Without this new birth, Jesus says, no one can see the kingdom of God or enter it.

What does it mean to be born of water and Spirit (John 3:5)?

The preacher explains that being born of water and Spirit is not a second step to take after the new birth: it is the same reality, made more precise. Jesus sends Nicodemus back to the prophets, in particular to Ezekiel 36, where God promises to cleanse his people with clean water, give them a new heart, and put his Spirit within them.

Do miracles prove that a teaching comes from God?

No. According to Tom Foord, miracles prove only that a spiritual world exists. They do not tell you whether a teacher or a church is approved by God. You have to ask whether Scripture announces this kind of miracle and whether the teaching of the one who performs it agrees with the Bible, like Nicodemus coming to question Jesus.