Encounters with Jesus: the religious reborn

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. 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.  "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.  But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."John 3:1‭-‬21 ESV

Necessity of new birth

Pharisees were seen as not just spiritual men. They were seen as the pillars of society. Nicodemus came to investigate Jesus. There was many miracles and life changing sermons. He and other teachers came to find out the truth of this man, Jesus. Was he a cult leader? Was a prophet of God? They came to get to the bottom of this affair, but Jesus flips this agenda on its head. Jesus digs to the heart of Nicodemus. Jesus tells Nicodemus that he does not belong to the kingdom of God. This is utterly shocking. The Jews assumed that the kingdom was theirs by right of their birth. Nicodemus was a leader among the religious leaders. He knew the scriptures and taught others how to follow them. Jesus told this man that he had no share in the kingdom of God. Regardless of his knowledge of the law of God, his racial background, and his personal obedience of God's law as he understood them... It did not give him any standing before God. He needed to be born again. To Nicodemus, it was completely inconceivable that he was not in the kingdom of God. So here is the take away, are we in Nicodemus' shoes? Are we naively assuming that we are in the kingdom? This idea if being born again is not new. It was an idea written in the scriptures before Jesus was born.

"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. And 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." - Ezekiel 36:25‭-‬27 ESV

How does this happen

It happens by the work of the Holy Spirit. Birth is not chosen by the baby. They don't pick their birthdays. Additionally, we are spiritually dead. They cannot bring themselves to life. So God brings us back to life. So how then are we reborn? The Holy Spirit brings our dead hearts to life to see our need for Jesus.

How does it work?

People coming to faith is a mystery. Back in those times, there wasn't a weather man giving meteorological forecasts. They have no idea when and how the winds will blow. So it is how this works in salvation, we cannot force this to happen in our timeline and with our own power. We cannot see the wind, but we can see it's effects.

Those who are born again have two big changes. Self-exposure & desires.

They speak of their own sins the most. They will speak of their own sins rather than the sins of others. They walk into the light and expose their sins, so they can walk rightly before God.

They change not only their actions, but their desires are changed. They are active in serving because they want to please God. The reborn love worship because it shows how they treasure Jesus. They don't love it because it makes them look good, or they can play music, or they like the music... That is the desire of those who are not born again. We see this in Nicodemus after Jesus' death. He demanded the body of Jesus. He wrapped it himself rather than allowing women to do it, as the norm. He did this because Jesus was no longer just some awesome rabbi, He was Nicodemus' treasure.