A while back I read a book by David Wells called The Courage to be Protestant.  In that book he gives several quotes from George Barna.  In 2007 Barna reported that while 38% of Americans considered themselves born again, only 8% met his doctrinal criteria for being an evangelical.  (For Barna born again is a title for those not so serious about the faith and evangelical is a term for those who are serious.)  In 2006 45% claimed to be born again, but 21% of them were unchurched. 

        Barna found that there is very little difference between those who were born again and those who were not in their understanding of holiness and of those claiming to be born again, only 35% believe that God expects them to be holy.  72% said they made a commitment to Christ, 71% said their faith was important to them, 60% said they were deeply spiritual, and yet only 16% said their faith was their highest priority.  Barna said, most Americans like the security of thinking of themselves as Christian, but most reject the biblical responsibilities that go along with that claim.  Of those who attend church regularly, only 15% say their relationship to God is their first priority.

        Something is wrong in the church today—if you look at the Barna stats you would have to conclude one of two things.  First, you might say that those who made professions of faith are born again and since they are just as worldly as those who have not made professions of faith being born again does not radically change people.  If you looked around most churches today and really believed what their membership statistics say you will have to come to that conclusion or you can look at it another way.  The second alternative is to approach this from the Bible.  The Bible starts with this fact—being born again radically changes people and many professing Christians are not radically changed; therefore, many who are professing to be born again are not born again. 

        The question on which I want to spend some time is this—what does it mean to be born again?  I can’t think of a better place to start than out text.  Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night and does a couple of surprising things—first he calls Him Rabbi.  The reason this is surprising is Nic was a Pharisee and they didn’t have a high view of Jesus or anyone one else who wasn’t just like them.  Second, he acknowledged that Jesus was a “teacher from God.”  Many of them would later say he was of the devil.  And finally he acknowledged  that he was in awe of all that he had been doing—“No one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 

        He said the right things, but Jesus wasn’t impressed by his statement and we can get a good understanding of that if we go back to chapter John 2:23-25.  “Many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.  But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he himself knew what was in them.”  Literally the Bible says, “They were believing in his name, but Jesus did not believe in them.”  Jesus knew what was in Nic’s heart so He just jumps right in and says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

        Notice, Nic was very religious, but Jesus didn’t say, “you need a new religion.”  Far too many people claim to be born again, but they live exactly like the world.  They have an appearance of being religious, but Jesus has become an add-on to their way of life.  He isn’t a radically transforming power.  Jesus knew Nic was religious.  He knew he kept the law.  He knew he fasted, and prayed, and tithed, but He also knew the greatest need of his heart—he needed to be born again.

        He needed to be regenerated.  Spurgeon had a great illustration of what it means to be born again—I want to take his story and put it into our context.  What if Congress passed a law that says you cannot enjoy the benefits of our great country unless you have been born in America.  You can’t enjoy the programs; you can’t have the rights to our court systems, our hospitals, or any other privilege that comes from living in our great country unless you have been born here.

        Now suppose a man comes to America from Africa and wants to enjoy our citizenship.  Were you born in America?  No, I was born in Africa.  Well you can’t be a citizen.  Suppose he sets out to earn his citizenship—he starts with changing his name.  He takes an American name and he learns English and he changes the way he dresses and the way he lives.  He becomes a model citizen, but when he shows up at the authorities door—they will still ask, were you born in America?

        You can look like a Christian, you can attend church, you can do the right things, you can know the right things, but if you have never been born again you will never know the joy of being a child of God.  You must be born again. 

        Jesus paints us into a corner here—he does not leave any wiggle room.  He simply says, “You must be born again.”  He goes on to say, “That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”  The nature of the Christian life is spiritual.  1 Corinthians 2:14, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”  You cannot understand the things of God until you have been born again.  Jesus said, “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 

        For years I always assumed that Jesus was saying, you can’t get to heaven unless you are born again and while that is true it goes beyond that.  Jesus taught that the kingdom wasn’t just something that we look forward to—He taught the Kingdom as something that was present because He was present.  Romans 14:17 says, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”  The kingdom is a matter of spiritual things which are only discerned by those who have been born again.  Why don’t more people respond to the Gospel? Why don’t more people get saved?  Paul said in 1 C 1:18 and 23-24 “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”  In 1 C 2:10 Paul said the things of God are “revealed to us through the Spirit.  For the Spirit searches everything, even the depth of God.” 

        The nature of the Christian life is spiritual, but let me show you one of the reason we don’t experience the Spiritual Realm—we have way too high a view of ourselves and because of that we have far too low a view of God.  We are not good people in need of a savior—we are dead people in need of life.

        “You must be born again.”  Nic is in one realm and Jesus is in another realm.  Nic is in the realm of flesh because that is all that the flesh can bring about.  He looks religious, he sounds religious, but Jesus knows he is dead and in need of new birth so He tells him if you want to get to my realm you will have to have something happen to you.

        Being dead in our sin does not mean you and I are as bad as we could be.  We could all be more evil is we wanted to be—being dead in sin doesn’t mean we are as bad as we could be, but it does mean every part of our life is affected by sin.  Our thinking, our attitudes, and our actions are impacted by sin and if someone does not act upon us or within us we will never get out of the flesh.

        When Jesus said, “Unless one is born again,” He actually said, “Unless one is born from above.”  The word for born is in the passive voice which means someone has to act upon us.  Think about it from the biological realm—how much did you have to do with your physical birth?  Did you choose to be born in America?  Did you choose the day you would be born?  Did you have anything to do with it?  No, you were the result of the actions of two people and of the hand of God moving within them. 

        How much more should we see that as it applies to our spiritual birth?  Spurgeon said, “In the salvation of every person there is an actual putting forth of the divine power, whereby the dead sinner is quickened, the unwilling sinner is made willing, the desperately hard sinner has his conscience made tender; and he who rejected God and despised Christ, is brought to cast himself down at the feet of Jesus.”  If you are saved it is because God acted upon you—there was a miraculous operation of the Spirit that caused you to be born again.  Being born again is something that can happen only as the result of God’s grace.