The New Birth (1)

Albert N. Martin

Turn with me, please, to the gospel according to John. I shall read verses 1-8.

“Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; the same came unto him by night and said unto him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do, except God be with him.’ Jesus answered and said unto him, ‘Verily, verily I say unto you, except one be born anew [or born from above or born again] he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said unto 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, ‘Verily, verily I say unto you, except one be born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into 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 unto you, ‘You must be born anew.’ The wind blows where it will and you hear the voice [or the sound] thereof, but know not whence it comes and whither it goes; so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.’”

There are times when an anemic brand of Christianity, and even the world, so misuses, distorts, and abuses precious, biblical terminology, that the true people of God find themselves reluctant to use that terminology—even though it is biblical—for fear they will be associated with its misuse and its distortion. However, this is not the right response to such a situation. Rather, the people of God and the servants of God, in particular, should take those very biblical terms—which are buried in the rubble and rubbish of misuse, tarnished and scarred by misconceptions—reach in, take them out of the rubble, scrub of the rubbish, rub off the tarnish, seek to repair the scars, and hold up those truths in all of their inherent, biblical beauty and even majesty.

Now, such is the term “born again” and “the new birth.” I, frankly, confess that I am ashamed at how long it has been since I have preached a sermon focusing on the doctrine of the new birth, on the necessity of being born again. I believe one of the major reasons is because the term “the new birth” or “born again” came into such tragic misuse, distortion, and abuse—as I have already described—in the late 60s and early 70s, when almost everything but the lamppost on the corner claimed to have had a born-again experience. Everybody and anything was born again. About the only thing I did not hear about was born-again hookers and muggers, but you had born-again everything. Until in the soul of a true child of God, who appreciated something of the biblical doctrine of the new birth, there was a tendency to distance ourselves from the tragic misuse and misconceptions that clustered around that terminology.

However, on our 8th message entitled “Simple Signposts to the Celestial City,” we are going to be looking at the Lord’s teaching on the new birth, or being born again. The signpost, upon which we will look, has inscribed upon it five words, only five words: three words, a hyphen, and two words. As we draw near to that signpost, we see not etched upon it, but this one is constructed of bright orange, dayglow, neon materials, and it says: No New Birth-No Heaven.

No new birth-no heaven! The signpost out of which that signpost is constructed has peculiar relevance, because our Lord’s clearest, most focused teaching on the subject of the new birth was given not to that immoral woman who discoursed at the well, not with the publicans and sinners who met with Him in the house of Levi, as recorded in Matthew 9 and again in Luke chapter 5.

Our Lord’s most concentrated teaching on the new birth is found as He is interacting with a man named Nicodemus, a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews, a teacher of great notoriety in Israel. For you will notice that our Lord says in this very passage, verse 10: “Are you the teacher of Israel, and understand not these things?” He is not speaking to one who is the riffraff of society. He is not speaking to someone who staggers about in a drunken stupor, who has needle track marks up and down his arms and his thighs, who is a junkie, who turns over in the streets at night yearning for his next fix!

He is speaking to a man of excellent religious background! He comes out of the Hebrew nation, with all of the privileges that entails. He came from the strictest sect of the religious groups within that nation. He was a Pharisee. He had excellent training in religious things. He, apparently, had a keen mind, bearing, and demeanor, which saw him rise through the ranks of his peers, until he held a place of special influence as a ruler of the Jews and as a notorious teacher of the truth of the Scriptures and the tradition of the elders.

So, we are seeing our Lord’s most focused emphasis upon this teaching of the necessity of the new birth. A fundamental, radical, all-pervasive, spiritual birth from above given to one who outwardly would seem to least need such a radical religious experience.

Looking at Nicodemus, hearing Nicodemus speak, watching his activities, we’d think, “Well, this man is on the border of the Kingdom of Heaven. All he needs is a little nudge, and he will be over the line and in.” Jesus said to this man, “You need nothing less that a birth from God Himself, or you will never see nor enter the Kingdom of Heaven”!

Therefore, if He said this to one who had all of what we would call the benefits, and all of the plus-marks of his background and heritage and training and knowledge and influence, then surely, if it is true of him, no new birth-no heaven, it is true of all others who have lesser privileges, and lesser measures of knowledge, and less religious instruction and background, etc.