Why Must We be Born Again? | thebereancall.org

Why Must We be Born Again?

January 16, 2001
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T. A. McMahon:

We are going through the gospel of John, and our purpose is to learn more about the salvation we have in Christ.  An important aspect of our salvation in Jesus is knowing Him personally; knowing what He has done for us, and knowing what He wants us to do as we follow Him.  Dave, we pick up with John:3:3:  “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Now, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus and just to jump—this is also for that liberal Lutheran pastor that we referred to in our last segment—what does Jesus mean here, except a man be born again?  And, this is not your idea, Dave.

Dave Hunt:

This is what the Bible says in fact, this is what Jesus said.  And we believe that the Bible is inspired of the Holy Spirit and furthermore these were eyewitnesses.  Now obviously, at least I don’t know, it could be, it doesn’t say that the other disciples were present when Nicodemus came.  They wouldn’t have to be because the Holy Spirit could tell John the conversation.  But anyway this is accurate, this is what happened and this is what Jesus said.  So just to go back quickly for those who may not have heard last week or have forgotten it, chapter 2 ends with many people believing on Jesus when they see the miracles and Jesus does not commit himself to them.  They believe he is the Messiah but they obviously have a wrong idea of the Messiah.  Now here comes a man, Nicodemus, and in contrast to those, he also believes that Jesus is a miracle worker.  He believes in the miracles, he believes Jesus came from God, he believes in His teachings.  And, Jesus very clearly says Nicodemus that is not enough.  You have to be born again.  That must have been shocking. Nicodemus had never heard anything like this.  You ask me well, what is Jesus talking about?  Well, Nicodemus asks that, verse 4, he says, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?  Obviously, he can’t, Nicodemus is not serious in that inquiry. He is saying what you are saying, it sounds impossible, and what can you possible mean?  So then, Jesus goes on to explain.  He’s not talking about physical birth but spiritual birth, becoming children of God.  So the first time we were born into this world, we became the children of our earthly parents.  Now if I am going to become a child of God, I must be born by the Spirit of God into the family of God.  This is what He is talking about.  You must be born again.

T. A. McMahon:

Now Dave, when he says, “Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, many people refer to that as the physical birth, born of water, for example the water within the—but I don’t know that that’s what it is referring to here.Isn’t this the washing, regeneration with regard to the Word of God?

Dave Hunt:

I think so.  The Bible tells us that it’s the Word of God that washes us and Peter tells us we are born of the Word of God.  So, it takes the Word of God and the Spirit of God for me to become a child of God.  I have to believe the Bible.  Baptism is not going to save me.  Some people think this is referring to baptism.  It does not say that anywhere else in the Bible—well, in Mark:16:16 it says, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved….”  Nowhere does the Bible say He that is not baptized shall be lost, but over and over and over it says if you do not believe you are lost.  “He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life” (John:3:36), when we get to that, “He that believeth not the Son of God shall not see life, the wrath of God abideth on him.”

T. A. McMahon:

Right, the thief on the cross had no possibility of coming down and being baptized.

Dave Hunt:

Of course, they could say he was a special case.

T. A. McMahon:

Well, the Catholics would say it was a baptism of desire but I don’t believe that is what this is referring to.

Dave Hunt:

Well, when we have the gospel presented in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul very clearly says, “This is the gospel which I preached unto you, by which you were saved and wherein you stand, if you believed what I said”—so it comes by faith—“how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, was buried, rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”  Romans:1:16 says “the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.”  And, in 

1 Corinthians 1, Paul says, I can’t even remember whether I baptized—who was it, the household of Stephanas? And maybe there were some others, but I don’t even remember who I baptized because Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel.  So baptism is very clearly not part of the gospel and it is as clearly stated that the gospel is how we are saved.  Through believing the gospel we are saved.  Furthermore, in 1 Corinthians:4:15 Paul says you have many instructors, but you don’t have many fathers.  But in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.  So Paul again is saying it is through the gospel that the new birth comes and I am the one who was used of God to bring this about in your lives because I preached the gospel to you.

T. A. McMahon:

Dave, let me add this.  Isn’t baptism a work?  Jesus gave it to us as an ordinance. It’s something that we do and we have been saved unto good works so there is no problem with it being a work and an ordinance, but when you make that the work that you have to do to be saved you are in trouble. You are denying the gospel.

Dave Hunt:

That’s true.  As a Catholic you remember, and also Lutherans, Luther believed the same thing and John Calvin believed the same thing, that when you were baptized as an infant you were born again into the family of God, into the kingdom of God, original sin, as they called it was forgiven and so forth.  Nowhere does the Bible teach that.  Salvation comes through faith in Christ. That is what the gospel message says about who He is, not just to believe that there is some person named Jesus Christ.  So, there are some problematic verses, we don’t deny that.  There are only two of them really, this one here and Mark:16:16, but we have dozens, scores of other verses that very clearly say salvation is through faith alone, in Christ alone because of his finished work and baptism does not—you see, Tom, it’s a spiritual transaction that takes place in my heart.  It’s not something physical and there is no way that physical water, anymore than walking through a physical door, could transform me, could make me a child of God, could bring about forgiveness of sins.  Forgiveness of sins is a matter of justice.  It doesn’t come about through some physical thing.  Justice is a non-physical element, a concept, a truth that has nothing to do with physical matter.

T. A. McMahon:

Then Dave what is baptism?

Dave Hunt:

Well in the Great Commission so called, in Matthew 28, Jesus said, “Go into all the world, make disciples of all nations, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”  Baptism is an outward expression of something that happened inwardly to me.  So, the Ethiopian eunuch when he asks Phillip in Acts 8 here is water, what hinders me from being baptized?  Phillip said if you believe with all your heart you may be baptized.  So, the Bible teaches believer’s baptism.  After I have believed the gospel and I am saved, then I am baptized in only these two ordinances that Christ left for the church.  I am baptized as a symbol—

T. A. McMahon:

Well, it’s a proclamation on the part of those who will receive this gift, this free gift.

Dave Hunt:

Right.  It’s a symbol of having been buried with Christ, and again, I don’t want to argue and create problems with people out there but I don’t think you put a little bit of dirt on a dead person. You bury them and so that’s why we believe in baptism by immerse.  It says of the Ethiopian eunuch and Phillip, they went down, both of them together into the water and then they came up out of the water.  In John 3—well, we will come to it—they were baptizing in Aenon near Salim because there was much water there.  Now just to sprinkle someone you don’t need much water, a bucket of it would do for a multitude.

T. A. McMahon:

Again, this has nothing to do with salvation; it has to do with just being obedient to the Lord, following Him.

Dave Hunt:

I am identifying myself with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection and when I take the bread and the cup, the other ordinance; I am remembering His death in my place.  So these both have to do with that; both baptism and the Lord’s Supper, or taking the bread and the cup in remembrance of Christ’s death.  Anyway, Jesus is beginning to explain some things here to Nicodemus.  We have run out of time, so we are going to have to come back.

T. A. McMahon:

Verse 6 Dave, we will pick up with this next week but let me just read it.  “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Dave Hunt:

And baptism is done to the flesh and this is talking about a spiritual rebirth.

T. A. McMahon:

And Jesus said, “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”

Dave Hunt:

We had better ponder that and accept it.

Program Number: 
0131d

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