I want to continue our discussion of the Gospel from John 3.  Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  This isn’t a reference to heaven…this means we must be born again to even see the things of God.  The flesh is flesh and the spirit is spirit and until the flesh becomes spirit—the things of God are foolishness.  God has to move in our flesh so that we can see the truth of the Gospel. If He doesn’t move in us so that we can see—we will never see.  How can we?  We are dead in our sin. 

Being born again is a supernatural experience that is the sole work of a supernatural God.  In John 6:63 we find these words, “It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh is no help at all.  The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”  In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth, and the life.”  The Spirit gives life to us and Jesus is that life.  In other words—the way we are brought from death to life is through the Spirit giving us Jesus Christ. 

New life comes by being connected with Jesus and that connection is done by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is the bond by which Christ unites us to Himself.  The question is how does that happen?  If a person is dead in their sin and unable to respond to God how do they come to the place of being able to respond?  Let me take you to a couple of passages:

John 6:44, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.  And I will raise him up on the last day.” 

John 6:65, “And he said, ‘This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.’” 

Acts 16:14, “One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God.  The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” 

We could go on and on, but these three scriptures show us that our placing faith in Jesus is the direct result of the previous work of the Father through the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  We don’t muster up our faith so that we can believe in Him—God moves in our lives and we respond to Him through His gift of faith.  Eph 2:1 speaks of our being dead in sin, but then verse 4 says, “But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Do you see the connection?  Do you see the way we are born again?  We are dead in our sins, we are under the wrath of God, but God in His mercy and grace regenerates us so that we can see the truth of the Gospel and believe in Him.  Without the move of God we would still be hopelessly lost.

That regenerating work of God is often not something we see.  Jesus tells Nic, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again,’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.  So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”  You can’t see the wind, but you can see the effects of the wind.  You see the trees moving, you hear it rustling through the leaves—just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.  God moves in our lives and when He does our lives are changed!

Have you ever seen a child that is born but still lives like it was still in the womb?  When you are born you grow into your new world—when you are born again you begin to grow in the Kingdom.  If you don’t grow—something is wrong.  Being born again changes everything about you.  I love the illustration I read a while back.  A man was converted and came back to church.  He told one of the elders, “I can’t believe how much this church has changed within the last few weeks.  The hymns are so lively now.  The worship is so wonderfully meaningful.  Why, even the preaching is better!”  What changed?  He changed—he had been born again and everything changed in terms of his likes and his hates.  That is what the Spirit does in us.