We’ve been looking at John 3 and what Jesus said to Nicodemus about being “born again” or “born from above.” Now let’s consider who causes this to happen.
Do you cause your own spiritual birth… or does God?
Scripture teaches that only God can cause anyone to be born again and that we can’t cause it, or control it, or manipulate it in any way.
However, when God does enable us to be born again and has given us new life by His Spirit, then we will believe the truth about Christ revealed in Scripture; we will come to Him as He is lifted up in the gospel presentation.
We will love Him as our Lord and Savior and Treasure of infinite worth; we will love our brothers and sisters in Christ with sacrificial love; and we will yearn to follow Him through obedience to His Word all the days of our life.
The new birth – being born again – enables a person to respond to Jesus with life and obedience and joy… instead of spiritual death and disinterest and disgust.
Are you born again?
Would Jesus say the same thing about your spiritual status based on what we see here in the text? The desire to come to Jesus for salvation is a necessary part of His enablement. We see this in Nicodemus’ desire to come.
Believe that His death on the cross was the full and final payment for all of your sins and there’s nothing you can ever do to add anything to His meritorious work on your behalf. Entrust yourself to Him… and follow Him from this day onward. Â
In our next study, we’ll learn what Jesus means by the phrase, “born of water and the Spirit.â€
This is not a verse about baptism, but about the spiritual cleansing spoken of in the OT (Ezekiel 36:24-27) which was surprisingly missed by Nicodemus!  We’ll continue with this in our next blog.
Until then,
Pastor Kevin
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