Tom Groelsema | You Must Be Born Again

Sunday Morning, January 11, 2026
Given by Tom Groelsema | Executive Pastor, Christ Covenant Church

You Must Be Born Again

John 3:1-15

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Transcript

Please turn with me in your Bible to the Gospel of John. John chapter 3. We'll be looking together at verses 1-15, as Jesus encounters this man that many of us have heard of before, Nicodemus. John chapter 3, verses 1-15. Before we read it together, let's pray for God to instruct our hearts. 

Father in heaven, as we turn to this part of your word, we are conscious, Lord, of our inability – our inability to believe without a mighty work of the Spirit in our hearts, our inability to bring someone else to believe without that same work of the Spirit, our inability, Lord, to make somebody hear this word and to believe what it says, even though we preach it and proclaim it. Without the work of your Spirit, God, it's going to fall to the ground like dead seed. We need your Spirit, God, to take this word and bring it to our hearts so that we listen, we are changed, we are transformed. We plead with you, oh God, to lift the scales from our eyes, to remove the calluses from our hearts, so that, God, we may be changed and transformed by your word and by your Spirit. We ask these things humbly in Jesus’ name. Amen. 

Let's read together now from God's word:

“Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God. For no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. 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, and so it is with everyone who is born of the spirit.’ 

Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.’”

Well, dear people of God, I hope that you would indulge me for a moment and allow you to tell me that Sheri and I were blessed with another grandchild this week. Number 11. Yes. Praise God. We're thankful for it. James Michael was born on Thursday. Born at 10:15 a.m. 7 lbs, 20 ounces. He's healthy. Mom as well. And our family is blessed once again. 

I mention all this because when I think about the birth of a child, birth of a grandchild – when you witness that or are part of that, you're witnessing something miraculous, aren't you? That's incredible to think that in nine months that God knits together a human being. Not a rock, not a tree, not an insect, but a person – someone who has had the breath of life breathed into them, someone made in the image of God. Bones, ligaments, muscles, organs, a respiratory, circulatory, endocrine, sensory, neurological systems. Eyes that can see, a brain that causes the little one to think, to respond, to react. A soul. There is not a scientist, not an inventor in the world, who's able to create, invent, make a human being. 36 times the miracle of birth happened in Christ Covenant in 2025. 36 times – a little one born in the image of God. In 2026, already, God's blessed us again. We celebrate with the Andrades the birth of their son Nathaniel. 

Well, people of God, if the birth of a child is miraculous, even moreso is our spiritual birth or spiritual rebirth. In John's gospel, if you have your Bibles open, you can see at the end of chapter 2 that Jesus encountered a number of people, which it says they believed in his name because they saw the signs that Jesus was doing. Jesus had changed water into wine. There are other signs that Jesus did that aren't recorded for us exactly right here in the early part of John's gospel. We know they're there, because it says they saw the signs, and they came to believe, in a way, in Jesus. They believed in his name, and yet it appears that their trust in Christ, their faith, was a miracle-based faith. They saw what Jesus was doing. They were drawn by the signs that Jesus had performed, and they said, "We believe." And yet, this was a faith dependent on what Christ had revealed to them or done before their eyes. Not true saving faith. And we know this because of what the Bible says. At the end of chapter 2, it says Jesus, on his part, did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people, and he himself knew what was in man. He knew what was in their hearts. He knew what was happening deep down inside. It's an amazing thing, isn't it? Jesus knows our hearts. Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 9 says, "Our hearts are desperately sick. Who can understand them? Who can know them?" We don't even know our own hearts is what Jeremiah is saying. But God does. Jesus does. He knows that they're desperately sick. He knows that our hearts need fixing, that they need a cure. They need a transformation. And that is why Jesus came along to Nicodemus, and he said, "Nicodemus, I have an answer for you. I have an answer, actually, for everyone whose heart is sick – every one. You need a miracle. You need a rebirth. You must be born again." 

Our outline this morning is simple. As Jesus describes this to Nicodemus, there is a must, there is a miracle, and there is a mystery. A must, a miracle and a mystery. 

The must: Jesus came to Nicodemus, who was a prestigious man. He was a spiritual man. You can see at the very beginning of the chapter some descriptions of Nicodemus. First, we read that he was a Pharisee. He was part of the who's who of the religious community. Pharisees were scholars. They were considered holy men. Their passion was to interpret the law of God with exactness and to follow the law of God with rigor. It's also said here that he was a ruler of the Jews. In other words, Nicodemus wasn't just any average Pharisee, but he was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He was a member of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was made up of 70 of the most respected religious leaders. It was both a religious and a civil body, a religious court of appeal for people who felt that they had been done an injustice at a lower court. It was given some authority by the Roman government to make decisions in certain civil matters. And so, Nicodemus was a religious and political authority. In fact, Jesus is going to say about him, verse 10, that he was the teacher of Israel. He holds a prestigious place within Israel as a teacher of the word and as a member of the Sanhedrin. He's probably wealthy. We gather this because of his name. He has a Greek name. Most in Judea would have only had a Hebrew name, except for those who are wealthy and educated, and this is the case with Nicodemus. He goes about with this Greek name. And then also notice this: he's a seeker. He came to Jesus at night. He came in the dark so that no one would see him. This was a clandestine operation to meet up with Jesus. But the darkness also probably says something about his heart – symbolic of his heart, of his need. He comes looking to Christ for something that he did not have. He knew Jesus was a teacher who had come from God, and he wants to know more from Jesus. 

People of God, if you take all of this together, all these descriptions of Nicodemus, and you look at all the other people in the Bible who had reason to expect that they may belong to God's kingdom, had it together, really needed very little from God, Nicodemus was that kind of man. Well respected, looked up to. Man, I mean, he's a pillar in the church. He's the kind of guy that you look to for wisdom and knowledge. He probably would be one of our elders, a perfect combination of a teaching elder and a ruling elder – wise, authoritative, a standout leader in the church, maybe belongs to the Session. He's the guy who's going to Presbytery meetings and General Assembly and all of that – just a man that you look up to. And yet, Jesus said to him, “Nicodemus, you have a tremendous need. You have all these things going for you, but you have a tremendous need.” Look how Jesus puts it, verse 3 and in verse 5: “Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, Nicodemus, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” And Jesus says something similar: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus had come to Christ, assessing who Jesus was: “Jesus, we know that you have come from God. Nobody can do these signs unless God is with him.” He comes to Jesus assessing Christ, and Jesus turns it around, and he assesses Nicodemus. And he says to Nicodemus, "Here's your need. Nicodemus, you must be born again. It's a requirement. A necessity. Doesn't matter what your credentials are. Doesn't matter even if you come to Christ. It doesn't exempt you. If you are not born again, then you do not belong to the kingdom of God. 

Jesus says it in two ways, although they're not very different at all from one another. He says, "You cannot see the kingdom unless you're born again.” You cannot have eyes to see. You will not have eyes to comprehend spiritual things unless you have this rebirth. You will be blind to the things of God, unless you're born again. They will not make sense to you; they are not going to register with you; you are going to have no interest, no passion, for these things. It's just as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:14. He says, “The natural man does not accept the things of the spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” You bring the truth of God to somebody who has not been born again, and no matter how many times you try to pound it in, you cannot see the kingdom of God unless you are born again. And then Jesus says, verse 5, “No one can enter the kingdom unless he is born again.” You do not have a relationship with Christ until you experience this rebirth. You do not belong to God's kingdom without it – his kingdom being his realm, his reign. To be born again means to be born a second time. It also means to be born from above, to be born of God. We use the theological word for this at times: regeneration. The act of God by which a sinner is given new spiritual life – from spiritual deadness to life. A new nature, a new heart. The Westminster Confession of Faith describes it like this: God calls us out of a state of sin into grace, and when he does this, he enlightens our minds spiritually. He takes away a heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh. He renews our will. You see this transformation, this change – mind, heart, will, all of it turned upside down, made new, by the spirit of God. This rebirth. It's the starting point in the Christian life. John Calvin said, "It is the proper entrance into the school of Christ." Think about the front door of a school. This is the front door into the school of Christ. A must: no other alternative to life in Christ. 

Second is a miracle. In other words, it is something that we cannot make happen, but only God can. You see, there's a bit of a conundrum here, isn't there, in Jesus words, sort of a puzzle? The Bible says we must be born again. It's like a command to obey. Okay, I must be born again. What do I have to do? And yet, we can't do it. And you see, then, the must is really a statement about something God has to do if we're going to be saved. When Jesus says you must be born again, he's describing a work of God – not something you have to run out and do from here this morning. It's a work of God. You see this in Jesus’ statements. In verse 3, again, he says, “Unless one is born again, they cannot enter the kingdom.” And then in verse 5, Jesus says, “Unless one is born of water and the spirit, they cannot enter the kingdom.” Jesus is making a parallel here. To be born again and to be born of water and the spirit, they're parallel statements. But it's that second statement that is probably the most confusing part of the passage here. 

What does it mean when Jesus says one has to be born of water and the spirit? Well, there have been multiple, multiple viewpoints on understanding this word or this phrase of Jesus. One common viewpoint is this – that water and the spirit is simply referring to our natural birth – water, and our spiritual birth – born of the spirit. And some who would take this position tie it into verse 6, because Jesus goes on to say that which is born of the flesh is flesh – natural birth, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. And so, water and spirit – just when we're born from our mother's womb and born of the spirit of God. Well, the problem with this view is this – that these two things don't seem to be equivalent. Being born of water and the spirit – if we're talking about natural birth and spiritual birth, that doesn't make a very good parallel with what Jesus said in verse 3, to be born again, where it's clear he's talking about a spiritual birth. It's the supernatural birth, not our natural birth but our supernatural birth, that gets the emphasis here on the part of Christ. And so, to say to be born of water is natural birth just seems a bit out of place here. 

Another common view is this: that water and the spirit refers to Christian baptism and regeneration. Water referring to our baptism; be born of the spirit, our regeneration. And some would say, well, this makes a good interpretation, because John has already connected water and the spirit before in his gospel. You go back to chapter 1, and you look at the baptism of Jesus. Jesus goes down into the water. The spirit of God in the form of a dove descends. So, there you already have water and spirit in the baptism of Christ. And others would go on to say Christian baptism and regeneration – these are initiatory events, aren't they? When we baptize a person here at Christ Covenant, whether baby or adult, we say this is an initiatory rite into the covenant community. And of course, regeneration, it comes at the very start of our walk with the Lord or our experience with Christ. But there's a problem here too. In Jesus’ baptism, baptism by water and the spirit are really contrasted, not united. They seem to hold together here in John 3, but in Jesus’ baptism, they're separated, actually. Remember how John the Baptist put it: “I baptize with water. Oh, but there's another baptism coming. He will baptize you by the Holy Spirit and with fire.” And if water here in John 3 is simply a reference to baptism, it would seem that Nicodemus wouldn't be that puzzled by what Jesus is saying. 

What would be the view that I would take? It would be this: that water and spirit actually are not two separate things. Jesus is not talking about two different things – to be born of water and then to be born of the spirit – but he's actually talking about one work of God and describing two elements of that work. Water and the spirit are together – one work of God, two elements of it, but one work of God. And where do we get this from? The clue is back in the Old Testament. Just turn back with me, quickly, to Ezekiel 36. This is Ezekiel's passage where he's describing the new covenant. What's going to come with the coming of the Messiah, the new covenant that God will make with his people? Ezekiel 36. Let's start at verse 23, and we'll read through verse 27: 

“God says, ‘I will vindicate the holiness of my great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you profaned among them, and the nations will know that I am the Lord,’ declares the Lord God. ‘When through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.’”

So here he's speaking to the exiles, “I'm going to bring you back.” And then look at verse 25: 

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols, I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” 

Here in Ezekiel 36, we have water, we have spirit. And God says, "I will sprinkle water on you to cleanse you.” This cleansing agent. I will cleanse you from all your iniquities, from all your idols, and I will put my spirit upon you to renew you, so that you walk in my ways. You will be careful to obey my rules. One promise: to cleanse and to transform, water and spirit. And I think this is what Jesus was drawing from when he was speaking to Nicodemus. Jesus, in a sense, was saying, "Hey, all that Ezekiel promised was part of the new covenant. Guess what? Here I am.” And the new covenant has arrived, so that you must be born by water and spirit if you're going to enter the kingdom of God. This promise that God has made, that he will do for his people. Friends, doesn't this make sense? Jesus has said to Nicodemus, "You are the teacher of Israel.” Here is an Old Testament scholar. And Jesus, talking about water and spirit, is drawing from the Old Testament – a passage, a text, that Nicodemus would have known so well. Be born again by water and spirit. And people of God, this is only something God can do. It's part of the new covenant promise. It's already clear. This is something God is going to do for his people. I will put my spirit on you. I will sprinkle water on you. I will cleanse you. This is God's doing – to be born again, to be born of water and spirit. What does flesh give birth to, said Jesus. Flesh can only give birth to flesh, but spirit gives birth to spirit. 

Parents, we can give our children all kinds of things, right? And we want to do that. You're raising your children. You want to give them a good education. You want to give them a good home. You want to give them the Scriptures. You want to bring them to church so that they know about Christ. You give and you give and you give, and there's one thing you can't give. You cannot give them new life. You give and you give and you give. And we pray for them, and we disciple them, and we bring them to worship, and we read the Scripture them, and we do it over and over and over again. And the one thing we can't do is to take all of that and make it enter their heart by the Spirit. That's the one thing we cannot do for our children. But only the Spirit can transform them. You know, the one thing that is probably more important than anything else you can do for your children or your grandchildren is pray. Pray and pray and pray. And yes, put the scriptures in front of them, and bring them to church, and tell them about Christ, but pray and pray and pray, and plead with God that they would be born again, that they would be born of water and the spirit and so be changed and transformed and know Christ. 

It's the same truth for those that you would witness to. It's the same truth for every preacher that gets up behind this pulpit. I'm going to preach, but I can't change anyone. God, change them. Transform them, enter their heart, cause them to be born again. Do you ever wish – desire that you were living in biblical times and could witness miracles like we see throughout the scriptures, Jesus healing a blind man or a deaf man or a lame person or whatever, raising the dead? Sometimes we think, you know, man, it would be great to see a miracle today. Every time somebody becomes a Christian and is born again, there's a miracle. God still does miracles. 

So, there’s a must. To be born again is a miracle. And it's also a mystery, because how does it happen? When does it happen? Jesus talks about this when he describes the Holy Spirit and the wind. So verse 8: “The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it's going. And so it is with everyone who is born of the spirit.” You can't see the wind. Where does it come from? Where is it going? We know things, you know, like wind direction. We know if the wind is coming from the north to the south or the south to the north. We don't know where it starts. And in fact, most of the time, you know, I guess all the time, really, the only way that we know which way the wind is blowing is we see the effects of the wind. Go look at a flag. Is it this way? Is it this way? Is it this way? You know? How is the flag standing? And this is how I know where the wind is blowing. I can't see the wind, but I can see the effects of the wind. The wind, you cannot harness it. First five years of our ministry, we lived on the plains. We lived in west central Minnesota, almost to South Dakota. It was always blowing. And you go to a farm, and on that farm there's a grove of trees, and I can tell you that every grove of trees in west central Minnesota is on the west and on the north. You don’t put it on the south, because that's not where the wind comes from. You put this grove of trees to block the wind, but you can't stop the wind. Didn't stop it, just redirected it. Made it go around that farm place. Can't catch the wind in a pail. I can't make the wind from the south blow from the north. I can't change its direction. The wind blows where it wills. And Jesus says, "So it is with the spirit." 

We don't know when the Spirit changes a heart. We don't start it. All we can see is the effects, signs. Maybe there's a new interest in God or Christ and it's clear. God's been working. How long? I don't know. But I can see it. Maybe there's a new commitment to prayer, to reading the scriptures, and see God is at work. There's joy where there was despair, love where there was hate, forgiveness where there was bitterness, humility where there was pride, moving like the wind. Wesley – we’re going to sing one of his hymns here in just a moment – but Wesley, when he talked about the work of the Spirit in his heart, he said, "I felt my heart strangely warmed.” The Spirit was moving, blowing. Spurgeon said, "One night, one weeknight, when I was sitting in the house of God, I was not thinking much about the preacher's sermon, for I did not believe it. The thought struck me, how did you become a Christian? I sought the Lord. But how did you come to seek the Lord? The truth flashed across my mind in a moment. I should not have sought him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek him. I prayed, but then I asked myself, how did you come to pray? I was induced to pray by reading the scriptures. Well, how came I to read the scriptures?” And he says, “In a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all and that he was the author of my faith, and so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me, and I ascribe my change wholly to God.” 

God was blowing. The wind was blowing. Friends, what about you? Some of you have a sense when the wind started blowing in your life. Suddenly the Bible became interesting to you. Or maybe despair scattered, and hope was alive. Or your pride, self-worship, self-salvation was shattered, and you were humbled before God. There's others of us here this morning who have no idea. I don't know at all when any of this happened. I felt like I've known Christ my whole life. And yet there are signs of the Spirit's work, right? You have a heart for God. You want to run from sin. You can see evidences of the wind. 

What if you're not at either one of those places this morning? You know you don't belong to Christ. And so maybe you're asking the question, "How can I be born again?" Well, the Bible doesn't say this: it doesn't say, "Well, seek the Spirit." Rather, the Bible would simply point to Christ. And it would say, "Turn to him in faith." John has said this in his gospel already in the first chapter: “To all who received him, Jesus, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.” 

Friends, you see the spirit of God that Jesus has been talking to Nicodemus about – the spirit of God ministry is always a spotlight ministry. It's a spotlight. And like spotlights, what's he shining on? The thing that the spotlight shines on is what's most important, right? Nobody goes around and says, "Let me stare at the spotlight." You want to stare at the thing that the spotlight is shining on. What does the Spirit always shine on? He always shines on Jesus. Always Jesus. And in fact, that's what Nicodemus did here, or Jesus did with Nicodemus. In the wrap-up to the conversation, Nicodemus is stumped. Jesus says to him – or he says to Jesus, "How can these things be?" And what does Jesus do? He doesn't point him more to the spirit of God. He actually points him to himself. He wraps it all up. He says, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” It's taking us back to Numbers 12, in the wilderness. God's people were bit by those venomous snakes, and God says, “Take a pole, and put a serpent on the pole, and whoever looks to the serpent will be healed, will live.” And so, Jesus just in a short time would be lifted up on a pole, on a tree, on the cross. The one who knew no sin becoming sin for us, so that as Jesus said to Nicodemus in the very last words, "Whoever believes in him, whoever looks to Christ, may have eternal life." 

Do you hear what Jesus is saying this morning? You don't have to seek to be born again. You don't have to flee to the Spirit to be born again. No, flee to Jesus. Just flee to Christ. Look to him in faith. Turn from your sin to Christ. And when you do that, you'll know you've been born again. You'll know the Holy Spirit has already been at work. He's opened your heart. He's transformed you. And people of God, this is exactly what happened to Nicodemus. He was born again. How do we know? Because when Jesus was lifted up, who was there to take him down, to place him in the tomb? Who was there when the disciples had fled? Who was there in those last moments? It's Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. “Give his body to us, and we'll lay it in the tomb.” Born again, changed, transformed by the spirit of God. Let's pray together. 

We do plead with you, Lord, that you now take your word, as we've been listening, as we've been hearing. May your word be used, God, for our comfort. If need be, may your word be used for our conviction. We pray, oh God, that it would be used for our conversion. Holy Spirit, we do pray that through the word you'd cause us to be born to a living hope in Christ Jesus. We pray these things in his name. Amen.