Nicodemus was an eminently spiritual man
We are so often inclined to think of lost people as naked savages, drug dealers, and murders; however, in Scripture, some of the most lost people are the most religious and spiritual people of their day. Nicodemus was such a man. He was a part of the Sanhedrin and was a Pharisee. He was one of the most eminently spiritual men of his day. He recognized that Jesus was a man that came from God; however, in all of this Nicodemus was still a lost man.
Jesus insists that you must be born again
Jesus tells Nicodemus that his only hope is to be born again. Jesus does not speak of baptism, church membership, repentance, faith, prayer, or anything else. He only insists that you must be born again if you desire to be right with God. This should be a great lesson for us today. There is only one question that matters, “Are you born again?”
Jesus explains the new birth
Nicodemus does not understand what the new birth is, so Jesus explains it to him. We are born not right with God; we are sinners by nature. As such we are born with a nature that cannot be acceptable to God. We must be infused with a new nature. This is called the new birth. In the new birth, God washes away our old nature (born of water) and infuses us with His divine nature (born of the Spirit.) This supernatural act of God is called regeneration or the new birth (Titus 3:5.) This is something that God does entirely by His grace, and we are merely recipients not facilitators of this gracious act of God. The person who is born again is now carried by a new, unseen Power, just like a leaf is picked up and moved by the wind.
Application
Has there been a supernatural change in your very nature? Are you born again?
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